Clinical Comparative Study of Sulbactam/Ampicillin and Imipenem/Cilastatin in Elderly Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Objective: To evaluate the clinical usefulness of sulbactam/ampicillin therapy for community-acquired pneumonia in the elderly. Methodology: A randomized prospective clinical study was conducted in the elderly patients with moderate-to-severe community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. Results: Overall clinical efficacy of sulbactam/ampicillin therapy (6 g/day) in these patients (efficacy rate: 91.4%) was comparable to that of imipenem/cilastatin therapy (1 g/day; efficacy rate: 87.5%), when each therapy was administered intravenously twice daily for 7-14 days. With regard to clinical efficacy based on disease severity, bacteriological efficacy, improvement of chest X-ray findings and adverse reactions, the two therapies were comparable. Conclusion: These results suggest that sulbactam/ampicillin therapy has excellent efficacy and tolerability and that it may be highly effective, even in severe cases of pneumonia. This regimen may thus serve as first-line treatment for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia in elderly patients

A Clinical Comparative Study of Piperacillin and Sulbactam/Ampicillin in Patients with Community-Acquired Bacterial Pneumonia

Objective To evaluate the clinical usefulness of piperacillin (4 g/day) therapy for community-acquired pneumonia compared to sulbactam/ampicillin (6 g/day). Methods A randomized prospective clinical study was conducted in patients with mild to severe community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. Results The overall clinical efficiency of piperacillin therapy (4 g/day) in these patients (41/53=77.4%) was comparable to that of sulbactam/ampicillin therapy (6 g/day: efficiency rate: 33/49=67.3%), when each therapy was administered intravenously for 3-7 days. With regards to clinical efficiency based on disease severity, bacteriological efficiency, improvement in chest X-ray findings and adverse reactions, the two therapies were comparable, even though we found more efficiency for patients who had underlying diseases and there were also cost benefits in piperacillin therapy, compared with sulbactam/ampicillin therapy Conclusion The results suggested that piperacillin therapy has good efficiency and tolerability and that it may be highly effective, even in cases of pneumonia with underlying diseases. This regimen may thus serve as a first line treatment of community-acquired pneumonia