Penetration of ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin into human allograft pancreatic juice.

The penetration of ciprofloxacin (500 mg) and ofloxacin (400 mg) into pancreatic juice following a single oral dose, was investigated in seven patients who had undergone pancreatic transplantation. With a special technique for segmental pancreatic transplantation it was possible to collect pure pancreatic juice at regular intervals for up to 24 h after drug intake. The antibiotic concentrations were determined by the agar-well diffusion method. The concentration of ciprofloxacin in pancreatic juice was 36% of that in serum. The same figure for ofloxacin was 92%. The mean peak level in pancreatic juice was 0.5 +/- 0.0 mg/l (+/- S.E.) for ciprofloxacin and occurred at 4 h after drug intake. The same figure for ofloxacin was 2.7 +/- 0.7 mg/l (+/- S.E.) occurring at 3.6 h. The decrease in concentrations with time was parallel to the serum concentration curves for both antibiotics. The concentrations of ofloxacin in pancreatic juice exceeded the MIC values for most of the organisms causing infections in the pancreas for several hours after an oral dose. The concentrations of ciprofloxacin only briefly exceeded the MIC for the same organisms.