Gastrointestinal side effects of intravenous erythromycin: incidence and reduction with prolonged infusion time and glycopyrrolate pretreatment

Autor: Edward C. Oldfield, Charles Hostettler, William A. Bowler, Dwayne Samuelson, Bruce S. Lavin
Rok vydání: 1992
Předmět:
Zdroj: The American journal of medicine. 92(3)
ISSN: 0002-9343
Popis: objective: To determine the frequency of gastrointestinal toxicity due to intravenous (IV) erythromycin and to attempt to decrease this toxicity by prolonging the infusion time of erythromycin and/or pretreating with the peripheral anticholinergic, glycopyrrolate 0.1 mg IV. design: Randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled trial. setting: General medical wards of a tertiary medical center. patients: A total of 51 hospitalized patients 18 years of age or older who were prescribed IV erythromycin lactobionate (EMLB) 500 mg every 6 hours by their attending physicians. interventions: Each of eight consecutive infusions of EMLB was randomly assigned to one of four groups: control—30-minute infusion/ placebo pretreatment; 60/P—60-minute infusion/placebo pretreatment; 30/G—30-minute infusion/glycopyrrolate pretreatment; and 60/G—60-minute infusion/glycopyrrolate pretreatment. main outcome measures: Each infusion was accompanied by a questionnaire in which patients rated the magnitude of nausea and vomiting on a scale of 1 (no toxicity) to 9 (severe toxicity). Scores for both nausea and vomiting were added together for a total toxicity score ranging from 2 to 18. A total score of greater than 8 was defined as clinically important. results: The 51 patients received a total of 356 infusions with gastrointestinal toxicity occurring in 27 of 51 (53%) patients. Among patients under the age of 40, 22 of 33 (67%) experienced toxicity compared with only five of 18 patients (28%) over the age of 40 (p = 0.018). Clinically important toxicity was seen in 19 of 51 patients (37%), including five who withdrew during the study because of severe nausea and vomiting. In this group, the combination of a 60-minute erythromycin infusion and glycopyrrolate pretreatment decreased clinically important toxicity by 79% from 47% to 10%, a statistically and clinically significant 37% (95% CI, 14% to 60%) difference (p = 0.007). conclusions: Gastrointestinal toxicity associated with the IV infusion of erythromycin is common and is more likely to occur in younger patients. A 1-hour infusion of erythromycin combined with pretreatment with glycopyrrolate, 0.1 mg IV, is effective in reducing this toxicity.
Databáze: OpenAIRE