W. Graninger et al., EXPERIENCE WITH OUTPATIENT INTRAVENOUS TEICOPLANIN THERAPY FOR CHRONIC OSTEOMYELITIS, European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases, 14(7), 1995, pp. 643-647
Thirty-seven patients with acute exacerbations of chronic osteomyeliti
s caused by methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (n = 13), me
thicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (n = 12), methicillin-suscep
tible coagulase-negative staphylococci (n = 9), methicillin-resistant
coagulase-negative staphylococci (n = 1) and enterococci (n = 2) were
treated intravenously with teicoplanin. After a loading dose of 7 to 1
6 mg/kg (median 11 mg/kg) for 4 to 7 days, patients received 9 to 25 m
g/kg (median 14 mg/kg) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in an outpat
ient setting to reach trough serum levels between 5 mg/l and 15 mg/l.
The duration of treatment ranged from 28 to 150 days (median 60 days).
Cure was obtained in 14 (38 %) and improvement in 17 (46 %) cases, an
d failure was observed in 6 (16 %) patients. Adverse effects occurred
in 6 patients, and caused discontinuation of treatment in 3 patients.
The financial savings exceeded US$60,000 per patient compared with the
high hospitalization costs of inpatient treatment.