Tissue penetration and clinical efficacy of enoxacin in urinary tract infections.

The fluoroquinolones in general, and particularly enoxacin, show great promise in the treatment of urinary tract infection. Orally administered enoxacin achieves high concentrations in the serum and urine as well as in prostate tissue, kidney and perirenal fat and muscle. These concentrations are generally in excess of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for 95% of the common uropathogens, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., Enterobacter spp., Serratia marcescens and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. In comparative clinical trials, treatment with oral enoxacin has achieved satisfactory clinical results (symptoms improved or absent) in 67 to 96% of patients and satisfactory bacteriological results (less than 10(4) colony count of the original bacteria) in 77 to 98% of patients. Clinical cure or improvement occurred in 94 to 100% of patients in uncontrolled trials, with corresponding satisfactory bacteriological results of 82 to 100%. In a number of studies of patients with difficult-to-treat infections, satisfactory clinical results were achieved in 92 to 100% of patients and satisfactory bacteriological results in 89 to 100% of patients.