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Rainer Isenmann

Publications and source records attributed to Rainer Isenmann.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Prevention of infectious complications in severe acute pancreatitis with systemic antibiotics: where are we now?

Infectious complications are the leading cause of death in patients with severe acute pancreatitis. Currently, there is controversy concerning the therapeutic possibilities to reduce the incidence of bacterial infection in this disease. Numerous studies are available which apparently support the prophylactic use of antibiotics in patients with necrotizing pancreatitis. The results, however, are contradicting and interpretation is difficult as these studies have used various antibiotic drugs with different application schemes and heterogeneous study end points. This article gives a critical overview of the background of antibiotic treatment in severe acute pancreatitis, the published data on antibiotic treatment and an outlook on the topics that need to be addressed by future research.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed2004

Prophylactic antibiotic treatment in patients with predicted severe acute pancreatitis: a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Antibiotic prophylaxis in necrotizing pancreatitis remains controversial. Until now, there have been no double-blind studies dealing with this topic. METHODS: A total sample size of 200 patients was calculated to demonstrate with a power of 90% that antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the proportion of patients with infected pancreatic necrosis from 40% placebo (PLA) to 20% ciprofloxacin/metronidazole (CIP/MET). One hundred fourteen patients with acute pancreatitis in combination with a serum C-reactive protein exceeding 150 mg/L and/or necrosis on contrast-enhanced CT scan were enrolled and received either intravenous CIP (2 x 400 mg/day) + MET (2 x 500 mg/day) or PLA. Study medication was discontinued and switched to open antibiotic treatment when infectious complications, multiple organ failure sepsis, or systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) occurred. After half of the planned sample size was recruited, an adaptive interim analysis was performed, and recruitment was stopped. RESULTS: Fifty-eight patients received CIP/MET and 56 patients PLA. Twenty-eight percent in the CIP/MET group required open antibiotic treatment vs. 46% with PLA. Twelve percent of the CIP/MET group developed infected pancreatic necrosis compared with 9% of the PLA group (P = 0.585). Mortality was 5% in the CIP/MET and 7% in the PLA group. In 76 patients with pancreatic necrosis on contrast-enhanced CT scan, no differences in the rate of infected pancreatic necrosis, systemic complications, or mortality were observed. CONCLUSIONS: This study detected no benefit of antibiotic prophylaxis with respect to the risk of developing infected pancreatic necrosis.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Pancreatic fungal infection.

INTRODUCTION: There has been a steady rise in the incidence of pancreatic fungal infections. Even though fungal infections of the pancreas are not very common, they are often nosocomial. AIMS: To review pancreatic fungal infections and to compare their clinical characteristics with those of bacterial pancreatic infections, along with the causes and approaches to diagnosis and treatment. RESULTS: Because of the lack of randomized, prospective trials, standardized recommendations for use of antifungal prophylaxis would be premature. The most important aspect of prophylaxis against pancreatic fungal infection is minimizing the factors that predispose the pancreas to fungal infections. CONCLUSION: Isolation of fungal elements from necrotic pancreatic tissue and treatment of local infection are vital. Treatment of local candidal infection should be initiated with surgical necrosectomy. Systemic antifungal therapy should be started early in the course of the disease, but whether antifungal agents should be added to the prophylactic antibiotic regimens for patients with necrotizing pancreatitis remains questionable.

Antifungal Agents↗
PubMed2001

Characteristics of infection with Candida species in patients with necrotizing pancreatitis.

This study focuses on the relevance of Candida infection (albicans and non-albicans) in patients with necrotizing pancreatitis. Altogether, 92 patients with infected pancreatic necrosis were reviewed for Candida infection. All patients underwent surgical necrosectomy for infected pancreatic necrosis. Data from patients with Candida growth in intraoperative smears were compared to those obtained from patients without Candida infection. There were 22 patients (24%) with Candida infection. Patients with or without Candida infection were comparable regarding age, gender, etiology, and severity scores at admission. Candida patients suffered a higher mortality (64% vs.19%, p = 0.0001) and experienced more systemic complications (3.2 +/- 1.6 vs. 2.1 +/- 1.4; p= 0.004) than patients without Candida. Preoperative antibiotics were given significantly longer prior to Candida infection (19.0 +/- 13.2 vs. 6.4 +/- 10.3 days; p < 0.0001). With regard to the concomitant spectrum of bacteria, solitary gram-negative infection was rare in Candida patients (5% vs. 43%, p =0.0006). The presence of Candida in patients with infected pancreatic necrosis is associated with increased mortality. Our data provide evidence that application of antibiotics contributes to the development of Candida infection and to changes in the bacterial spectrum of infected necrosis with an increase in the incidence of gram-positive infection.

Adult↗