Original article
English
Frandah WM 1,2, Siala IM 2, Frandah MS 1,2
1-Medical ICU, Department of Medicine, Tripoli Medical Center. 2-Department of Medicine, Al-Fatah Uni¬versity for Medical Sciences, Tripoli, Libya.
Libyan J Infect Dis. 2008;2(2):47-50
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Drotrecogin alpha (activated) in the treatment of patients with severe sepsis.
Patients and Methods: Twenty two patients admitted to Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) of Tripoli Medical Centre due to of severe sepsis during one year period (from December 2006 to December 2007) were found eligible to receive Drotrecogin-alpha. A continuous 96-hour intravenous infusion of Drotrecogin-alpha [activated] (Xigris®) at a dose of 24 μg/kg body weight per hour was given. Twenty eight day mortality and drug safety were evaluated.
Results: Thirteen patients (59.1%) were males, median age was 49 years. The median number of organ dysfunction was 4 organs. Drotrecogin-alpha (activated) was started within 48 hours from admission to MICU in 16 patients. Adverse effects were noted in 3 patients (13.6%); two of them (9%) had a significant bleeding and one (4.5%) died of a non-bleeding cause. Six (27.3%) recovered from the sepsis. The 28 day hospital mortality was (68.2%).
Conclusion: Drotrecogin alpha [activated] did not improve the mortality rates in our study. The outcome was better for those who received treatment within 48 hours of admission to MICU. Severe side effects were double the rate reported in literature. No deaths were due to bleeding. Further studies on the role of Drotrecogin alpha in the treatment of patients with high risk of death due to sepsis are needed.
Keywords: Severe sepsis, Drotrecogin alpha, Xigris®, Multi-organ failure
Link/DOI: http://www.nidcc-jid.org.ly/pdf/v2no2/original_article_effectiveness_drotrecogin_alpha.pdf