Answer 10: Major changes in empiric management of CAP

20 June, 2018

 

 

 

The emergence of resistance has changed empiric treatment of CAP in two principal ways. More patients are now treated with combination therapy, and there is a notable trend toward the use of respiratory fluoroquinolones like levofloxacin. Levofloxacin has exceptional pharmacokinetic features making it an excellent agent in treating many infectious diseases, including CAP. It has high bioavailability of 99%, making oral absorption equivalent to intravenous administration. It reaches a Cmax of 5.2 mg/l, a value over the dose needed to treat most respiratory pathogens, a half-life of 1.3 hours and AUC (or area under the concentration curve) value of 47.7 mg/h/l. These excellent features make it a very useful agent for empiric therapy of CAP.