[Chronic osteitis--modern therapy].

The results of the clinical trials with ofloxacin in the treatment of osteitis are presented. The drug was used according to 3 regimens: 200 mg thrice a day, 200 mg twice a day and 400 mg once a day for 6 to 24 months. The disease diagnosis was based on the bacteriological investigation of the biopsy specimens and hemocultures. The isolates were shown to be susceptible to ofloxacin. The majority of the patients (78 per cent) was treated with ofloxacin after the preliminary surgical operations. The treatment was started with the ofloxacin intravenous administration in a dose of 400 mg followed by the drug oral use in the same dose once a day for at least 14 days. The most frequent causative agents were: Staphylococcus aureus (52 per cent of the cases) and Staph.epidermidis (13.7 per cent of the cases) which were eradicated in 91.7 and 93.9 per cent of the cases respectively when the ofloxacin MICs were 0.26 and 0.22 mg/l respectively. The number of the gram-negative isolates on the whole amounted to 72.56 per cent and that of the gram-negative isolates amounted to 27.46 per cent of all the pathogens. As for the latter Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter spp. were the most frequent (11.14 and 5.4 per cent respectively). The eradication of the pathogens amounted to 80.6 and 94.43 per cent respectively when the drug MICs were 1.78 and 0.42 mg/l respectively. The regimen with the drug oral use in a dose of 400 mg once a day proved to be the most expedient. It provided the complete therapeutic effect, minimum cost and maximum comfort for the patients.