Intravenous administration of antibiotics is recommended during the early phase of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) bone and joint infection (BJI). We sought to compare the plasma concentrations of cloxacillin administered alternately by continuous and intermittent infusion (CI and ItI) in patients with MSSA BJI. In this prospective crossover trial, patients were randomly assigned to receive either 3 days of CI (two 75-mg/kg 12-h cloxacillin infusions per day) and then 3 days of ItI (four 37.5-mg/kg 1-h cloxacillin infusions per day) or vice versa. The drug concentration measurement was performed on day 3 of each type of administration at 1, 6, and 11 h and at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 h after the beginning of CI and ItI, respectively. We used the nonparametric algorithm NPAG to estimate population pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters. The final model was used to perform pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) simulations and calculate the probabilities of target attainment (PTA) for several ItI and CI dosing regimens. We considered two PK/PD targets of time spent above the MIC for free cloxacillin concentrations (fT>MIC): 50 and 100%. Eighty-four concentrations from 11 patients were analyzed. A two-compartment model adequately described the data. ItI with q6h regimens and short 1-h infusions of 2,000 or 3,000 mg were associated with low PTA, even for the low target (50% fT>MIC) while 3-h infusions and continuous infusions (6 to 12 g/day) were associated with a PTA of >90% for an MIC up to 0.5 mg/liter. These results support the use of prolonged or continuous infusion of cloxacillin in patients with BJI.
Keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; antibiotics; bone and joint infections; cloxacillin; continuous infusion; osteomyelitis; penicillin; pharmacodynamic; pharmacokinetics; population PK analysis; population pharmacokinetics.
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