Meropenem (1.5g/day) is as effective as imipenem/cilastatin (2g/day) for the treatment of moderately severe intra-abdominal infections

This multicentre, open-label, randomised trial compared meropenem (0.5 g/8 h) and imipenem/cilastatin (at the commonly used dosage of 0.5 g/6 h) in mo notherapy in patients with moderately severe intra-abdominal infections (IA Is). In total, 161 patients were randomised (82 meropenem, 79 imipenem/cila statin). The mean APACHE II scores in the two groups were 5.8 and 6.4, resp ectively. At the end of therapy, 65/71 (91.6%) evaluable meropenem recipien ts were clinically cured or improved, compared to 60/64 (93.8%) imipenem/ci lastatin recipients. This difference and that in an intention-to-treat anal ysis (82.1 vs 86.1%, respectively), were not statistically significant. Bot h drugs were generally well tolerated. Thus, meropenem 0.5 g/8 h is as clin ically effective and well tolerated as imipenem/cilastatin 0.5 g/6 h in mod erately severe IAIs. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. and International Socie ty of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.