[Infections during induction chemotherapy of acute leukemia and their control V. Clinical evaluation of a large dose of amikacin injected intravenously].

In this study, we treated severe infections (21 cases) accompanied with induction chemotherapy in 20 patients with acute leukemia by the combination of a large dose (600 approximately 1,200 mg/day) of amikacin with other antibiotics. Infections during induction chemotherapy of acute leukemia consisted of sepsis (8 cases), pneumonia (7) and others (6), and most of causative organisms were Gram-negative bacteria, such as Ps. aeruginosa (7 strains), Flavobacterium (5), Serratia (3), Ps. cepacia (2), E. coli (2) and others. The combination chemotherapy of a large dose of amikacin with other antibiotics was found to be effective (71.4%) for such infections. Side effects were negligible except for drug eruption. Therefore, a large dose of amikacin should be given for the treatment of severe infections accompanied with induction chemotherapy of acute leukemia.