Comment on: Guidelines for the antibiotic treatment of endocarditis in adults: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy

Pramod M. Shah*

Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Universitaet, Zentrum der inneren Medizin, Schwerpunkt Infektiologie, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany


* E-mail: shah{at}em.uni-frankfurt.de

Keywords: antibiotic therapy , guidelines , endocarditis

Sir,

In these guidelines,1 the authors recommend that ‘A minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)...should be established by a standardized laboratory method to ensure susceptibility.’

What evidence is available that MIC determination improves patient care and outcome or influences the treatment? I know of one presentation at the European Congress for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases by Walton et al.2 from University College London Hospitals who analysed 129 cases of endocarditis and concluded that ‘Antibiotic treatment in endocarditis can be safely chosen on the result of disc sensitivity testing and adjusted on clinical grounds without MIC.’ The same group3 recently published analysis of 125 patients admitted between 1981 and 1999 in whom the MIC had been measured. Their conclusion is inconclusive: ‘The measurement of MIC appears prognostically important in deciding the surgical management of endocarditis.’

Can the experts who formulated the guidelines provide some evidence for their recommendation, please?

References

1. Elliott TSJ, Foweraker J, Gould FK et al. Guidelines for the antibiotic treatment of endocarditis in adults: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. J Antimicrob Chemother 2004; 54: 971–81.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2. Walton B, Wallace S, Kharbanda R et al. Is minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) useful in endocarditis? In: Program and Abstracts of the Tenth European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Stockholm, Sweden, 2000. Abstract TuP7. European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Basle, Switzerland.

3. Walton BI, Wallace SM, Kukreja N et al. Is the MIC useful in deciding to treat endocarditis surgically? Int J Antimicrob Agents 2004; 23: 394–7.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]





This Article
Extract
Full Text (PDF)
All Versions of this Article:
56/2/432    most recent
dki187v1
Alert me when this article is cited
Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Email this article to a friend
Similar articles in this journal
Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Similar articles in PubMed
Alert me to new issues of the journal
Add to My Personal Archive
Download to citation manager
Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Disclaimer
Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Articles by Shah, P. M.
PubMed
PubMed Citation
Articles by Shah, P. M.