A survey of prospective, controlled clinical trials of gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin, and netilmicin.

Data from 24 prospective, controlled clinical studies of the aminoglycosides gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin, and netilmicin are reviewed. According to these findings, netilmicin is the safest and most effective of the four types (P less than 0.01, both comparisons), and gentamicin is more effective than tobramycin (P less than 0.05) and less ototoxic than amikacin (P less than 0.05).