[Ceftazidime after bone marrow graft. Current aspects].

The aplasia which follows bone marrow transplantation is extremely deep and characterized by disruption of all cutaneous and mucosal barriers and by major immunodepression. It is complicated in 30 to 40 per cent of the cases by septicaemia usually caused by Gram-positive organisms. Because the natural defence mechanisms have been suppressed an empirical broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy is usually instituted before microbiological results are available, and this has proved effective in reducing the immediate mortality due to infection. However, nephrotoxic drugs such as cyclosporin A and amphotericin B are also used in this context, and clinicians are looking for antibiotics that have minimal noxious effect on the kidneys. Ceftazidime administered alone or combined with another antibiotic is currently being investigated from this point of view in several clinical trials.