[Clinical significance of gastrointestinal decontamination under protected environment].
Many infections are caused by the patient's own oro-intestinal microbial flora under a protected environment. Thirty-eight patients with acute leukemia and two patients with blast crisis of chronic myelocytic leukemia were treated under a protected environment with or without prophylactic antibiotics. Antibiotics used for decontamination were vancomycin (V), polymyxin B (P) and nystatin (N). The number of patients in the VPN, PN and the no antibiotic group were 13, 13 and 14, respectively. While the intestinal microbial flora was almost completely eliminated in VPN group, the number of bacteria decreased slightly in PN group. The mean number of pharyngeal and anorectal bacterial species decreased most markedly in the VPN group, but there were no significant differences among the three groups. The number of febrile days was significantly lower in the VPN and PN group than the no antibiotics group with neutrophil counts of less than 100 microliters. The average number of episodes of infection per patient was lowest in VPN group and highest in the no antibiotic group. These data indicate that VPN administration is effective for eliminating intestinal bacterial flora and resultantly protecting endogenous infections.
Nagao
T
T
Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Tokai University.
Yonekura
S
S
Komatsuda
M
M
Nozaki
H
H
Arimori
S
S
Sawamura
S
S
Ozawa
A
A
Sasaki
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D003666:Decontamination; D004064:Digestive System / Q000382:microbiology*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004780:Environment, Controlled; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009761:Nystatin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011112:Polymyxin B / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use
D009761:Nystatin; D014640:Vancomycin; D011112:Polymyxin B