Dt. Dieterich et al., CONCURRENT USE OF GANCICLOVIR AND FOSCARNET TO TREAT CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INFECTION IN AIDS PATIENTS, The Journal of infectious diseases, 167(5), 1993, pp. 1184-1188
Ten patients with AIDS and progressive cytomegalovirus disease were tr
eated with ganciclovir and foscarnet concurrently. The patients had re
ceived ganciclovir and foscarnet monotherapy a median of 330 days befo
re receiving combination therapy for a median of 80 days. Nine of the
10 patients responded to the combination. No electrolyte abnormalities
were noted during combination therapy, but rates of neutropenia (rela
tive rate, combination vs. ganciclovir, 1.99; P = .229) and thrombocyt
openia (relative rate, combination vs. ganciclovir, 1.53; P = .616) we
re higher with combination therapy than with either drug alone. The re
lative rate of anemia was significantly increased with combination the
rapy compared with monotherapy (relative rate, combination vs. gancicl
ovir, 2.69; P = .025). These data suggest that combination ganciclovir
and foscarnet therapy after failure of either alone appears to be as
effective as standard therapy with single agents. The rate of anemia w
ith combination therapy was significantly greater than either agent al
one, but no significant difference was noted among the other parameter
s of toxicity studied.