STUDY OF THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF CIPRO FLOXACIN IN THE TREATMENT OF CHRONIC SINUSITIS

Over a twelve months period, 56 patients presenting with an acute exac erbation of chronic sinusitis, have been included in this study. Mean age of patients was 48.6 +/- 15.2 years, mean duration of symptoms was , at inclusion 10.1 +/- 12.1 years and the current episode of exacerba tion lasted 2.4 +/- 4.4 months. Patients received 500 mg ciprofloxacin twice daily for 9 days Bacteriological specimens. positive at inclusi on in 53.76 % resulted in the isolation of 25 Gram positive and 16 Gra m negative pathogens. At the end of treatment, rhinorrhoea which was t he main criterion of efficacy, disappeared in 46 of the 54 examined pa tients (85 %). Among the 30 patients with bacteriologically documented sinusitis, eradication was noted in 90 % of the cases. Four weeks aft er the end of treatment, success rate was 74.5 %, partiel success rate 21.2 % and failure rate, 4.3 %. There was no bacteriologicol relapse. Ten adverse events were observed in 7 patients and caused the withdra wal of treatment in 4 of them (7 %). Ciprofloxacin appears to be an ef fective and well tolerated treatment of acute exacerbation of chronic sinusitis treated in office practice.