[Studies on penetration of antibiotics to gallbladder tissue and bile, its surgical significance. Mainly with cefmenoxime].

Basic and clinical studies in 37 patients with biliary tract disease on comparison between cefmenoxime (CMX) and cefotiam (CTM) were studied and the following results were obtained. In vitro antibacterial activities of CMX and CTM against 25 strains (15 organisms) isolated from bile of patients with biliary tract disease were stronger than that of cefazolin (CEZ). In cholecystectomized patients, CMX (2 g) or CTM (2 g) was injected intravenously, followed by determination of concentration in bile and gallbladder tissue about 2 hours after administration. In CMX administration, the mean concentration in gallbladder bile was 812.1 micrograms/ml, and the mean concentration in duct bile was 1,050.6 micrograms/ml, and the mean concentration in gallbladder tissue was 100.7 micrograms/g. In CTM administration, the mean values were, 1,092.5 micrograms/ml, 1,287.8 micrograms/ml, 28.5 micrograms/g, respectively. The concentration of CMX and CTM were almost similarly. The bile concentration of CMX (i.v.) was compared with CTM (i.v.) by cross-over method in cases of T-tube drainage. The peak bile concentrations of CMX and CTM were as high as 172.4 micrograms/ml and 182.2 micrograms/ml, respectively, 1 approximately 2 hours after 2 g intravenous administrations. Furthermore, the concentration of them were highly gained, 16.1 micrograms/ml of CMX and 33.8 micrograms/ml of CTM, even at 5 approximately 6 hours. In choledochostomized patients, CMX (4 g/day) was injected intravenously, followed by determination of concentration in intraperitoneal exudate. The mean concentration of CMX was 15.3 micrograms/ml on the first day after the operation, and 6.0 micrograms/ml even on the third day after the operation. Those results suggest that the high antibacterial activity of CMX against organism in bile and, the high penetration of CMX to bile, gallbladder tissue and intraperitoneal exudate will promise its important role in treatment of biliary tract infections.