Clinical experience of chemotherapy with cefmetazole for severe infections accompanying malignant hematological disorders

We made an attempt to treat with cefmetazole (CMZ) 25 patients who developed severe infectious diseases while suffering with granulocytopenia associated with the treatment of malignant hematological disorders. 1. Determination of bacteriological efficacy While 20 strains were isolated and identified from 15 patients, no significant bacteria were detected in 9 patients. Isolates obtained were: 5 strains of Enterococcus faecalis, 3 strains of Haemophilus influenzae, 2 strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis, 2 strains of Klebsiella oxytoca, 2 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, and 1 strain each of Neisseria sp., Pseudomonas maltophilia, Enterobacter sp., alpha-Streptococcus, beta-Streptococcus and Gram-positive cocci. Causative organisms were eradicated or markedly in 7 of the 15 patients from whom bacteria were isolated. Clinical findings, including fever, revealed that none of the patients, in whom bacteriological efficacy was determined to be poor, exhibited sufficient clinical response. E. faecalis was isolated from 4 of 6 patients bacteriologically determined to have no response. 2. As for 23 patients, who were found to be evaluable among the 25 patients, 8 (34.8%), 4 (17.4%), 4 (17.4%), and 7 (30.4%) demonstrated excellent, good, fair and poor responses, respectively, showing a 69.6% efficacy rate which indicates a sum of percentages of patients with excellent, good and fair responses. 3. While an efficacy rate of 100% was obtained for 3 patients with number of peripheral neutrophils less than 500/mm3 before the beginning of CMZ administration, only an efficacy rate of 66.7% was obtained for 15 patients with neutrophils more than 500/mm3.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)