Single-dose intramuscular ceftriaxone for the treatment of uncomplicated cystitis in children and adolescents

The purpose of this randomized, open-label, controlled, clinical trial was to determine whether intramuscular (IM) ceftriaxone is as effective as mult iple-dose oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) in the treatment of cystitis in children and adolescents. Outpatients 1 to 19 years of age with cystitis were randomly allocated to receive either a single dose of IM cef triaxone or oral TMP-SMX twice daily for 10 days. Nine of 27 patients mho r eceived ceftriaxone 500 mg failed to respond to treatment at 4 to 82 days a fter enrollment and the start of treatment; 6 of 22 patients who received T MP-SMX failed to respond to treatment at 7 to 168 days (intent-to-treat ana lysis; P = 0.99). Five of 10 patients who received ceftriaxone 250 mg faile d to respond to treatment at 18 to 99 days; this arm of the study was disco ntinued because of the high failure rate. Results of this study suggest tha t ceftriaxone 500 mg and TMP-SMX mere equally effective in the treat;ment o f simple cystitis in children and adolescents.