Significance of pleural and sputum concentrations for antibiotic therapy of bronchopulmonary infections.

Tests were done with various antibiotics (ampicillin, carbenicillin, cefazolin, cefotaxime, cephradine, ticarcillin) in order to determine the significance of sputum and pleural concentrations for adequate therapy of bronchopulmonary infections. In a total of 19 chronic bronchitis patients, it was found that the attainable sputum concentrations were rather low and that individual fluctuations were great. No clear connection was evident between dosage and concentration of antibiotics in the sputum. In 17 patients with exudative pleurisy, test data yielded in pleural kinetics largely corresponded with data from animal experiment models. The pleural cavity can be described as a partial extracellular, extravascular compartment in which the concentration course probably correlates more to the interstitial lung concentrations than to that of the sputum.