[Effects of cefoxitin in the treatment of severe infections in patients with hematopoietic disorders].

Cefoxitin (CFX) at a daily dose of 3 to 12 grams was administered to patients who had hematopoietic disorders as underlying diseases and having severe infections. Efficacy and safety of the drug were evaluated. The underlying diseases in the 64 patients included in the evaluation of efficacy were acute myelocytic leukemia (30 cases), acute lymphocytic leukemia (9), acute promyelocytic leukemia (3), acute monocytic leukemia (2), chronic myelocytic leukemia-blastic crisis (10), erythroleukemia (2), malignant lymphoma (2), aplastic anemia (2), and others (4). The infections were septicemia in 3 patients, suspected septicemia in 47, respiratory tract infections in 7, oral infections in 3, urinary tract infections in 2, and others in 2. The clinical efficacy of CFX was 'excellent' in 13 patients, 'good' in 26, 'fair' in 6, 'poor' in 19 for an efficacy rate of 60.9%. The efficacy rate classified according to infections was 66.7% in septicemia, 66.0% in suspected septicemia, 42.9% in respiratory tract infections and 66.7% in oral infection. The organisms isolated from the patients with septicemia were E. coli in 2 patients and B. cereus in 1. B. cereus was not susceptible to CFX. The efficacy rate was 60.0% in the 10 patients whose causative organisms were identified and 61.1% in the 54 patients whose causative organisms were not identified. There was no significant difference in the efficacy rate between the patients who had failed to respond to prior antibiotic therapy and those treated with CFX from the beginning. The efficacy rates for the former group (23 patients) and for the latter group (41 patients) were 56.5% and 63.4%, respectively. The efficacy rate in patients with an initial neutrophil count less than 500/mm3 (35 cases) and from 501 to 1,000/mm3 (13 cases) were 57.1% and 76.9%, respectively. Side effects which might have been caused by CFX were skin eruptions in 2 patients (2.6%) and transient elevation of GOT and GPT in 1 patient (1.3%) among 76 patients who were evaluated for safety. CFX was considered to be a markedly useful and safe drug in the treatment of patients with hematopoietic disorders who developed severe infections.