[Effectiveness of the intramuscular administration of high doses of penicillin in treating pneumonia].

Clinical tolerance of benzylpenicillin administered intramuscularly in doses of 2000000--3000000 units every 4--6hours (12000000 units a day) was studied in 253 patients with pneumonia. Satisfactory tolerance of sodium benzylpenicillin and pronounced painfulness at the site of injection of potassium benzylpenicillin were noted. General toxic side effects in the form of asthenia, dizziness, pain in the heart region were observed in a part of elderly patients. The benzylpenicillin serum levels after administration of 2000000 units were 6--10 times higher than those after administration of 200000 units. The efficiency of benzylpenicillin elevated doses was studied in 193 patients. In 101 of them the previous treatment with usual doses of benzylpenicillin, i. e. 200000 units every 4 hours was not sufficiently effective. The elevated doses of benzylpenicillin proved to be effective in 78 per cent of the cases, the effect being observed in all the cases with acute pneumonia, in 88.5 per cent of the cases with neglected state and in 83 per cent of the cases with chronic pneumonia. The therapeutic effect was also observed in most of the patients with benzylpenicillin resistant microflora in the sputum. On the basis of high efficiency of penicillin therapy it was concluded that gram-positive cocci played the main role in pneumonia etiology.