Background: Intra-abdominal infections result in substantial morbidity and mortality. Fluoroquinolones are among the various regimens that are used for the treatment of these infections.
Aim: To evaluate the available data from laboratory and clinical studies regarding the use of fluoroquinolones for the treatment of patients with intra-abdominal infections.
Methods: We searched for relevant laboratory and clinical studies in the PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases.
Results: Good pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of fluoroquinolones in inflamed abdominal tissue are reported in several laboratory studies. In six prospective non-randomized clinical studies of patients with intra-abdominal infections, the clinical success achieved with the use of fluoroquinolones ranged from 77% to 94%. In 10 randomized-controlled trials fluoroquinolone-based regimens were compared with other commonly used (mainly beta-lactam-based) regimens. Clinical success, bacterial eradication, withdrawal because of toxicity and mortality were similar between the compared treatment arms except from two randomized-controlled trials, in which clinical success was statistically higher in the fluoroquinolone treatment arm.
Conclusions: Fluoroquinolones seem to be an effective and relatively safe option for the treatment of patients with intra-abdominal infections.