Comparison of moxalactam with the combination of clindamycin and an aminoglycoside in the treatment of common surgical infections.

The efficacy and safety of moxalactam were compared with those of a combination of clindamycin and an aminoglycoside in a randomized study of therapy for 60 patients with the following surgical infections: intraabdominal or pelvic infections (12 patients), abscesses (13 patients), and severe infections of extremities (35 patients). These infections were equally distributed between the two treatment groups, except that, according to the randomization process, a majority of patients with intraabdominal infections received moxalactam therapy. Surgery was used as adjunctive therapy when necessary. One adverse reaction--fever and leukocytosis with eosinophilia--was due to continued administration of moxalactam. No significant adverse reaction was observed in the patients treated with the clindamycin-aminoglycoside combination. Although the number of isolated organisms resistant to the antibiotics was similar within each treatment regimen, an alarmingly high percentage of gram-positive cocci were intermediately sensitive to moxalactam in vitro. Even in the presence of resistant organisms, moxalactam therapy was as effective as the clindamycin-aminoglycoside therapy when surgical debridement or drainage was properly timed and executed.