Article date: April 2019
By: Keso Skhirtladze‐Dworschak, Doris Hutschala, Georg Reining, Peter Dittrich, Anna Bartunek, Martin Dworschak, Edda M. Tschernko in Volume 85, Issue 4, pages 818-826
Aims
Surgical site infections contribute to morbidity and mortality after surgery. The authors hypothesized that higher antibiotic tissue concentrations can be reached for a prolonged time span by continuous administration of prophylactic cefuroxime compared to bolus administration.
Methods
Twelve patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery were investigated. Group A received 1.5 g cefuroxime as bolus infusions before surgery, and 12 and 24 hours thereafter. In group B, a continuous infusion of 3.0 g cefuroxime was started after a bolus of 1.5 g. Cefuroxim levels were determined in blood and tissue (microdialysis). T‐test, Wilcoxon signed rank test and χ2 test were used for statistical analysis.
Results
The area under the curve (AUC) of plasma cefuroxime concentrations was greater in group B (399 [333–518]) as compared to group A (257 [177–297] h mg L−1, [median and interquartile range], P = .026). Furthermore, a significantly longer percentage of time > minimal inhibitory concentrations of 2 mg L−1 (100% vs 50%), 4 mg L−1 (100% vs 42%), 8 mg L−1 (100% vs 17%) and 16 mg L−1 (83% vs 8%) was found for free plasma cefuroxime in group B. In group B, area under the curve in subcutaneous tissue (78 [61–113] h mg L−1) and median peak concentration (33 [26–38] mg L−1) were markedly higher compared to group A (P = 0.041 and P = .026, respectively).
Conclusions
Higher cefuroxime concentrations were measured in plasma and subcutaneously over a prolonged period of time when cefuroxime was administered continuously. The clinical implication of this finding still has to be elucidated.
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.13865
View this article