Tigecycline Treatment for Infections Caused by Multidrug-Resistant Pathogens

다약제내성 균주 감염에 대한 Tigecycline의 치료

Background: Tigecycline (TIG), a new broad-spectrum glycylcycline with anti-multidrug-resistant-(MDR)-pathogen activity, was launched in March 2009 in South Korea, but there are insufficient clinical studies on its use in the country. As such, this study was performed to analyze cases of severe MDR-pathogen-caused infections treated with TIG. Methods: Patients treated with TIG within the period from May 2009 to June 2010 were enrolled in this study. Their clinical and microbiologic data were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Twenty-one patients were treated with TIG for complicated skin and soft-tissue infections (cSSTIs) (42.9%), complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAIs) (38.1%), or pneumonia (19.1%) caused by MDR pathogens like carbapenem-resistant $Acinetobacter$ $baumannii$ (76.2%), methicillin-resistant $Staphylococcus$ $aureus$ (61.9%), extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing $Escherichia$ $coli$ and $Klebsiella$ $pneumoniae$ (38.1%), and penicillin-resistant $Enterococcus$ species (33.3%). Thirteen patients (61.9%) had successful clinical outcomes while five (23.8%) died within 30 days. The rate of clinical success was highest in cSSTI (77.8%), followed by cIAI (50%) and pneumonia (50%), and the mortality rate was highest in pneumonia (50%), followed by cIAI (25%) and cSSTI (11.1%), Conclusion: Tigecycline therapy can be an option for the treatment of severe MDR-pathogen-caused infections in South Korea, Due to its high risk of failure and mortality, however, prudence is required in its clinical use for the treatment of severe infections like nosocomial pneumonia.