Inhalation of the antibiotic tobramycin could have an important future role in reducing lung infection of patients with cystic fibrosis, suggest authors of a research letter in this week’s issue of THE LANCET.
More than 80% of patients with cystic fibrosis are chronically infected by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Infection reduces lung function, and leads to substantially reduced life expectancy; conventional treatment with intravenous antibiotics is only partially effective. Felix Ratjen and colleagues from the University of Essen, Germany, studied 15 patients with cystic fibrosis (aged 1-22 years) in whom P aeruginosa was detected for the first time.
Patients inhaled 80 mg tobramycin twice daily for 12 months. Eradication of P aeruginosa was confirmed in 14 patients by analysis of blood antibodies and throat swabs. The 14 patients remained free of infection at one-year follow-up; nine were free of infection at two-year follow-up.
Felix Ratjen comments: "Our data show that 80 mg inhaled tobramycin, taken twice daily for 12 months, is highly effective in eradication of P aeruginosa from the airways of patients with cystic fibrosis. Most patients remained free from infection after treatment ended. Therefore, this treatment regimen, if started soon after P aeruginosa colonisation, cures chronic P aeruginosa lung infection."
Contact: Dr Felix Ratjen, Children’s Hospital, University of Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, D-45122 Essen, Germany; T) 49-201-723-5732; F) 49-201-723-5721; E) f.ratjen@uni-essen.de
The Lancet