Daptomycin Experience Between Years 2009-2013: Review Of 139 Cases

Introduction: Daptomycin is an agent effective on gram-positive pathogens, which has been used since 2009 for skin and soft tissue infections and endocarditis. In this study, our aim was to see how daptomycin was used in our hospital besides clinical studies, and determine the characteristics of the patients and responses to treatment.Materials and Methods: The patients who were started on daptomycin between 2009 and 2013 were retrospectively evaluated. Demographic characteristics, the clinics of the patients, underlying diseases, infection data, isolated microorganism, treatment and clinical response, and adverse events were recorded. SPSS v20.0 was used for analysis.Results: The mean age of 139 patients were 52.9 +/- 16.4, and 48.2% of the patients was male, 51.8% was female. Of the patients, 52 (37.4%) were treated for skin and soft tissue infection; whereas, 53 (38.1%) had osteomyelitis, 16 (11.5%) had prosthetic infections, seven had primary blood stream infections (three port infections, three catheter associated bacteremia and one laboratory confirmed bacteremia), four had endocarditis, three had septic arthritis, and four had other infections. Treatment was started empirically in 77% of the patients (n= 107). Eighty-six microorganisms were isolated, of which 68.6% was gram positive and 30% was gram negative. Only ten patients (7.2%) had used glycopeptides before. End of treatment response was 85.6% (119/139) for all patients and 87.7% (50/57) for patients whose specimens yielded gram-positive microorganism. Twelve patients had adverse events (8.6%). The adverse events were seven possible eosinophilic pneumonia, two CK elevations, one palpable purpura, one rash, and one renal function impairment.Conclusion: Daptomycin is an alternative choice for complicated patient groups with complicated skin and soft tissue infections and osteomyelitis, randomized controlled studies especially on bone and joint infections are needed in the future.