Ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid versus moxalactam therapy of osteomyelitis, septic arthritis, and skin and soft tissue infections.

A controlled, randomized study to compare the efficacy and safety of ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid with moxalactam was carried out in 25 evaluable patients with bone, joint, and skin or skin structure infections. Of the 13 patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid-treated group, nine had osteomyelitis, two had septic arthritis, one had cellulitis, and one had a wound infection. Four of the 12 moxalactam-treated patients had osteomyelitis, one had septic arthritis, and the other seven had cellulitis and/or infected ulcers. A total of 21 causative organisms were isolated in the group treated with ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid: Enterobacteriaceae (10), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (five), obligate anaerobes (three), Staphylococcus aureus (two), and Acinetobacter species (one). Cultures in the moxalactam-treated group yielded 23 pathogens: Enterobacteriaceae (seven), S. aureus (six), group B streptococci (four), P. aeruginosa (two), obligate anaerobes (two), Streptococcus pyogenes (one), and Aeromonas species (one). A cure or satisfactory response was achieved in 12 of the 13 (92 percent) patients who received ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid and in 10 of the 12 (83 percent) patients who received moxalactam. One patient with septic arthritis who received ticarcillin plus clavulanic acid had a relapse during therapy, as did one moxalactam-treated patient with a post-surgical wound infection. The other patient in whom moxalactam treatment failed had a wound infection that became reinfected. Some abnormalities in laboratory parameters occurred in each group, but none was severe enough to warrant discontinuation of treatment.