Clinical benefit of ertapenem compared to flomoxef for the treatment of cefotaxime-resistant Enterobacteriaceae bacteremia

Clinical benefit of ertapenem compared to flomoxef for the treatment of cefotaxime-resistant Enterobacteriaceae bacteremia Chen-Hsiang Lee,1,2 I-Ling Chen,3 Chia-Chin Li,4 Chun-Chih Chien4 1Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial, Hospital, 2Chang Gung University, College of Medicine, 3Department of Pharmacy, 4Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Objectives: Cefotaxime-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CE) infections are intractable, with limited treatment options. Though carbapenems are frequently prescribed for CE infections, the emergence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae is of huge concern. Flomoxef is effective against CE in vitro, and some clinical data on its demonstrated effectiveness against CE bloodstream infections (BSIs) exists.Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective study on adults with BSI caused by flomoxef-susceptible CE to investigate the efficacy of flomoxef compared with that of ertapenem. The outcome was evaluated with propensity score-based matching and logistic regression analysis.Results: Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients treated with flomoxef (n