Ceftazidime: experimental and clinical evaluation of biliary elimination.

During a 3-h perfusion of five isolated rabbit liver preparations, 1.4% of 10 mg of ceftazidime added to the circulating blood was eliminated in the bile and 0.9% was metabolized or inactivated in the liver. Five normal subjects were given 2 g of ceftazidime intravenously; antibiotic concentration in the aspirated duodenal fluid rose progressively during the 4 h of the investigational period to a maximal mean level of 21.3 +/- s.e.m. 9.2 micrograms/ml and 0.05% of the dose given was recovered during this period. The same dose was given to 12 cholecystectomized patients fitted with a Kehr drain. An average peak value of 36.3 +/- 4.0 micrograms/ml was reached in the collected bile during the second hour after drug administration. The 12-h biliary recovery was 0.21% of the dose given. Ceftazidime concentrations in choledochal and gallbladder bile sampled peroperatively in 10 patients 1 h after intravenous administration of 2 g of ceftazidime were 78.3 +/- 12.0 and 17.9 +/- 7.5 micrograms/ml respectively. These data compare favourably with the results of the authors' studies on the biliary elimination of 15 other beta-lactams and are consistent with a possible beneficial effect of ceftazidime in the treatment of biliary tract infections.