Cefotaxime in the treatment of chronic osteomyelitis caused by gram-negative bacilli.

Fifty patients with chronic osteomyelitis due to aerobic or facultative Gram-negative bacilli, alone or in mixed infections with Gram-positive cocci, were treated with cefotaxime. The diagnosis of osteomyelitis was made on the basis of clinical, roentgenographical, isotopic, microbiological and histopathological evidence of infection. Only those patients with infection sensitive to cefotaxime were treated. Most patients received 2 g cefotaxime qid iv for 30-60 days (mean 40 days). Some patients received metronidazole in addition. The following results were obtained at the six month follow-up: 40 patients cured, six improved, no failures and four relapses. The surgical technique had an impact on these results. No clinically important side-effects were encountered, nor were any cefotaxime resistant strains found.