An open-label, randomized study comparing efficacy and safety of intravenous piperacillin/tazobactam and ampicillin/sulbactam for infected diabetic foot ulcers.

BACKGROUND

Soft tissue and bone infections of the lower limb continue to be a frequent and serious complication in patients with diabetes mellitus. The best choice of antimicrobial for the empiric treatment of moderate to severe diabetic foot infections has not been established clearly.

METHODS

We conducted a prospective, randomized, open-label, multicenter trial comparing piperacillin/tazobactam (P/T) (4 g/0.5 g q8h) and ampicillin/sulbactam (A/S) (2 g/1 g q6h) as a parenteral treatment for 314 adult patients with moderate-to-severe infected diabetic foot ulcers. Patients with polymicrobial infections involving methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus also received vancomycin 1 g q12h.

RESULTS

Clinical efficacy rates (cure or improvement) were statistically equivalent overall (81% for P/T vs. 83.1% for A/S), and median duration of treatment was similar in the clinically evaluable populations (nine days for P/T, 10 days for A/S). Drug-related adverse events for both study drugs were comparable in frequency and type.

CONCLUSIONS

Although both study drugs provide safe and effective empiric treatment for moderate-to-severe infected diabetic foot ulcers, piperacillin/tazobactam has the advantage of covering Pseudomonas aeruginosa (bacteriologic success rate of 85.7%), the most commonly isolated gram-negative pathogen in this study.