Oral treatment of peritonitis in CAPD patients with ofloxacin.

Eighteen episodes of peritonitis in 16 CAPD patients were treated with oral ofloxacin 400 mg initially, followed by 300 mg daily for a total of 10 days. The culture-positive rate was 72.2% with Staphylococcal species as the most frequent isolates. The overall cure rate as defined by negative cultures 1 and 2 months after discontinuation of antibiotics was 83.3%. The time taken for the peritoneal effluent to clear completely was 5 days. With such a dosing regime, there was a significant increase in the mean serum trough level of ofloxacin from 2.28 mg/l on day 1 to 5.83 mg/l on day 10 (P less than 0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum levels attained whether or not phosphate binders were concurrently given. Side-effects were nausea and non-specific dizziness. No patients had to discontinue treatment because of side-effects. Ofloxacin appeared to diffuse from the blood into the peritoneal fluid, and a highly significant correlation existed between simultaneous blood and peritoneal effluent ofloxacin levels (r = 0.88, P less than 0.0001).