The efficacy of the combination of Timentin and tobramycin in the treatment of patients with bacteraemia.

Abstract

Twenty-eight patients with bacteraemia were treated with Timentin, a combination of ticarcillin and clavulanic acid, and tobramycin. According to a simple physiological classification scheme 20 patients were moderately and eight severely ill. Clinical cure was achieved in 15 of 20 moderately ill and in four of eight severely ill patients. The nine therapeutic failures were due to non-removable foreign material (2 cases), abscesses that were not effectively evacuated (5 cases), urolithiasis (1 case), and decubitus ulcer (1 case). One of these cases was complicated by infection with a Klebsiella strain with Timentin and tobramycin MICs of 64 mg/l. Thirteen of 31 bacterial isolates from blood were resistant to greater than or equal to 128 mg/l of ticarcillin of which 11 were susceptible to less than or equal to 64 mg/l of Timentin. The addition of Timentin to tobramycin offered a better coverage in vitro than ticarcillin combined with tobramycin against the strains isolated from the blood of the patients included in this study.