Cefoperazone in the treatment of postsurgical wound infection, sepsis, and abscess of the spinal cord and brain.

Cefoperazone was used in the treatment of 23 cases of serious bacterial infection in 20 patients. Ten postoperative scalp wound infections, five infections at the site of tracheostomy, four cases of extradural spinal cord abscess, three cases of sepsis, and one abscess of the cerebellopontine angle were treated with cefoperazone (1 to 2 gm BID, usually for seven to 27 days). There were excellent or good clinical responses in 87% (20/23) of the cases (14 of the 15 postsurgical wound infections, three of the four cases of spinal cord abscess, and all three cases of sepsis). Most of the organisms isolated from the patients' cultures were sensitive to cefoperazone. Excellent or good responses occurred in ten of the 12 infections due to Staphylococcus aureus, in all three infections due to Pseudomonas sp, all three due to Citrobacter freundii, the two due to Serratia marcescens, one of the two due to Klebsiella sp, and the one due to Escherichia coli. Two patients with ventriculitis were clinically improved by three 1-gm infusions, via a shunt, of cefoperazone. No adverse effects of the antibiotic therapy were reported.