Prospective randomized study of two different doses of clindamycin admixed with gentamicin in the management of perforated appendicitis.

Septic complications after surgery for enterogenous peritonitis are minimized by adjuvant antibiotics effective against aerobes and anaerobes. Historically, "gold standard" therapy included an aminoglycoside plus clindamycin, the latter given at 600 mg intravenous piggyback (IVPB), every 6 hours. Clindamycin pharmacokinetics suggests that it can be given q8h and admixed with gentamicin, thereby markedly reducing the cost of administration. Although this is now common practice, there is no prospective study comparing the efficacy of the two dose schedules in peritonitis. This study was designed to test the hypothesis regarding the clinical efficacy of the two regimens. One hundred twenty-six patients with gangrenous (n = 34) or perforated appendicitis (n = 91) were randomized (2:1) to receive gentamicin admixed with clindamycin 900 mg IVPB every 8 hours (Group I n = 80) or gentamicin IVPB q8h plus clindamycin 600 mg IVPB every 6 hours (Group II n = 46). Appendectomy was performed, and aerobic and anaerobic cultures were obtained. Twenty-one patients had simultaneous determinations of clindamycin levels in plasma, peritoneal fluid, and appendix. Outcome analysis revealed no significant differences in postoperative days of fever, days non per os, antibiotic therapy, or hospitalization. There were 6 failures (4 abscesses and 2 wound infections) in Group I and 4 failures (1 abscess and 3 wound infections) in Group II. Both antibiotic regimens provided clinically equivalent results in mixed infections due to aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The admixed clindamycin, administered every 8 hours, results in at least 20% reduction in costs. This is an important consideration.