Antibiotics May be Safely Discontinued Within One Week of Percutaneous Cholecystostomy.

BACKGROUND: For patients with acute cholecystitis managed with percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC), the optimal duration of post-procedural antibiotic therapy is unknown. Our objective was to compare short versus long courses of antibiotics with the hypothesis that patients with persistent signs of systemic inflammation 72 h following PC would receive prolonged antibiotic therapy and that antibiotic duration would not affect outcomes. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of 81 patients who underwent PC for acute cholecystitis at two hospitals during a 41-month period ending November 2014. Patients who received short (≤7 day) courses of post-procedural antibiotics were compared to patients who received long (>7 day) courses. Treatment response to PC was evaluated by systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria. Logistic and linear regressions were used to evaluate associations between antibiotic duration and outcomes. RESULTS: Patients who received short (n = 30) and long courses (n = 51) of antibiotics had similar age, comorbidities, severity of cholecystitis, pre-procedural vital signs, treatment response, and culture results. There were no differences in recurrent cholecystitis (13 vs. 12%), requirement for open/converted to open cholecystectomy (23 vs. 22%), or 1-year mortality (20 vs. 18%). On logistic and linear regressions, antibiotic duration as a continuous variable was not predictive of any salient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who received short and long courses of post-PC antibiotics had similar baseline characteristics and outcomes. Antibiotic duration did not predict recurrent cholecystitis, interval open cholecystectomy, or mortality. These findings suggest that antibiotics may be safely discontinued within one week of uncomplicated PC.

Intubated Trauma Patients Receiving Prolonged Antibiotics for Pneumonia despite Negative Cultures: Predictors and Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Despite the excellent negative predictive value of sterile respiratory cultures, antibiotics often are continued after negative endotracheal aspirate (ETA) or bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for critically ill trauma patients. We hypothesized that persistent elevation of the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) would predict continued antibiotic therapy after a negative respiratory culture for intubated trauma patients, and that prolonged antibiotics would provide no benefit. METHODS: We performed a four-year retrospective cohort analysis (May 1, 2011-September 30, 2015), including patients from our trauma database with ETA or BAL, excluding patients with any infection other than pneumonia or bacteremia. Cultures with <2+ organisms on gram stain and <2+ or 104 organisms on culture were considered negative. The CPIS was assessed at the time of culture and five days later, when all cultures were final. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify predictors of long-term antibiotic therapy. RESULTS: A series of 106 patients with negative cultures were included, of whom 61 had ≤5 d of antibiotics and 45 had >5 d of antibiotics. There were no differences in injury severity, head or chest trauma, initial CPIS, or subsequent culture results between the groups. Long-term antibiotic therapy did not affect intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), ventilator days, hospital LOS, or death. Factors predicting long-term antibiotic therapy included development of a localized chest radiograph infiltrate (odds ratio [OR] 6.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.7-28), CPIS >5 five days after culture (OR 6.1; 95% CI 1.2-32), and a colonized culture (OR 3.3; 95% CI 1.3-8.3). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term antibiotic therapy for intubated trauma patients with negative respiratory cultures provided no benefit and was predicted by development of a localized chest radiograph infiltrate, persistently elevated CPIS, and a contaminated/colonized culture. Although long-term antibiotic use did not worsen outcomes, better strategies are needed to diagnose pneumonia accurately and ensure timely discontinuation of antibiotics when appropriate.

The effects of renal transplantation on peripheral blood dendritic cells.

Recent advances allow accurate quantification of peripheral blood (PB) myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cell (DC) populations (mDC and pDC, respectively), although the response to renal transplantation (RT) remains unknown. Using flow cytometry, PBDC levels were quantified in patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing RT. PBDC levels were significantly reduced in ESRD patients pre-RT compared to healthy controls, with further reduction noted immediately following a hemodialysis session. RT resulted in a dramatic decrease in both subsets, with a greater reduction of pDC levels. Both subset levels were significantly lower than in control patients undergoing abdominal surgery without RT. Subgroup analysis revealed significantly greater mDC reduction in RT recipients receiving anti-lymphocyte therapy, with preferential binding of antibody preparation to this subset. Samples from later time points revealed a gradual return of PBDC levels back to pre-transplant values concurrent with overall reduction of immunosuppression (IS). Finally, PBDC levels were significantly reduced in patients with BK virus nephropathy compared to recipients with stable graft function, despite lower overall IS. Our findings suggest that PBDC levels reflect the degree of IS in renal allograft recipients. Furthermore, PBDC monitoring may represent a novel strategy to predict important outcomes such as acute rejection, long-term graft loss and infectious complications.