Effect of Cefmetazole on Infections Accompanying Granulocytopenia in Hematological Disorders: A Cooperative Study

Abstract

Cooperative study on the evaluation of clinical effects of a cephamycin antibiotic cefmetazole (CMZ) was performed in patients with various infections accompanying granulocytopenia in hematological disorders in 13 institutions. CMZ (2 to 9 g/day) was administered intravenously by drip infusion divided in 2 to 4 doses. Efficacy of CMZ was evaluated according to the criteria of Takaku et al. Two hundred and fourteen cases were entered to this study, and 121 cases were suitable for evaluation. Infections consisted of sepsis, pneumonia, respiratory tract infections, and so on. More than half of the patients had acute leukemia, and about 90% of them were hematological malignancies. When only CMZ was administered, the efficacy was 53.2%, and when CMZ was added to the previous treatment, the efficacy was 58.8%. The overall efficacy of CMZ was 52.1%. Adverse reactions were minimal, and disappeared immediately after taking off the administration.