Comparative study of ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium versus piperacillin in the treatment of hospitalized patients with urinary tract infections.

The efficacy and safety of ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium and piperacillin were compared in a clinical trial of 78 hospitalized patients with urinary tract infections. There were 37 evaluable patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and 39 in the piperacillin-treated group. The 43 infection sites in each group were primarily complicated pyelonephritis or complicated cystitis; six patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and four in the piperacillin-treated group also had septicemia. Both ticarcillin (3 g) plus clavulanate potassium (200 mg) and piperacillin (125 to 200 mg/kg per day) were administered intravenously. The 43 most common pathogens in each treatment group were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from the urinary tract and E. coli from the blood. Eight pathogens in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and 11 in the piperacillin-treated group were resistant to ticarcillin in vitro. Eradication was achieved for 39 of the 43 (91 percent) pathogens in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium group, including all six organisms isolated from the blood and eight (89 percent) of the ticarcillin-resistant pathogens. In the piperacillin-treated group, 33 of the 43 (77 percent) pathogens were eradicated, including three of the four blood isolates but only eight (73 percent) of the ticarcillin-resistant pathogens. The rate of reinfection or relapse was similar in both groups. Clinical cure or improvement occurred in 97 percent of the patients in each group. Mild and transient increases in levels of liver enzymes or eosinophilia was reported for 11 patients in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group and for seven in the piperacillin-treated group. In one patient in the ticarcillin plus clavulanate potassium-treated group, a drug-related rash and nausea developed, and treatment was discontinued.