Lung Concentrations of Ceftazidime in Patients With Ventilator-associated Pneumonia
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2008-02-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Ceftazidime is a beta-lactam compound that exerts a time-dependent bactericidal effect.
Numerous arguments are in favor of continuous administration of ceftazidime, both for reasons
of clinical efficacy and to preserve bacteriological mutation. The investigators report a
prospective, single-center, parallel-group, randomized, controlled trial comparing two modes
of administration of ceftazidime, namely, continuous administration (loading dose of 20 mg/kg
of body weight followed by 60 mg/kg/day) versus intermittent administration (20 mg/kg over 30
min every 8 h) in 34 patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia due to Gram-negative
bacilli. The study was performed over 48 h with 13 and 18 assessments of serum ceftazidime in
the continuous-infusion group (group A) and the intermittent-fusion group (group B),
respectively. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed at steady state in both groups at 44
h to determine ceftazidime levels in the epithelial lining fluid. The investigators chose a
predefined threshold of 20 mg/liter for serum concentrations of ceftazidime because of
ecological conditions in our center.