Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
Randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel, single centre trial.
Participants
26 participants aged 2 - 9 years (males: females = 13:13) with a recent positive culture who have never received anti-pseudomonal therapy.
Interventions
Oral ciprofloxacin (250 - 750 mg) twice-daily and inhaled colistin (1 mill. IU) for 3 weeks at entry and each time P. aeruginosa isolated or no anti-pseudomonas chemotherapy. Length of trial: 27 months.
Outcome measures
Time to chronic colonisation with P. aeruginosa (defined as the presence of P. aeruginosa in monthly routine sputum specimens for 6 consecutive months and/or the development of precipitating serum antibodies against P. aeruginosa).
Main results
During the 27 months of the trial, infection with Ps aeruginosa became chronic in significantly fewer treated than untreated subjects (2 [14%] vs 7 [58%]; p less than 0.05) and there were significantly fewer Ps aeruginosa isolates in routine sputum cultures in the treated group (49/214 [23%] vs 64/158 [41%]; p = 0.0006).
Authors' conclusions
chronic colonisation with Ps aeruginosa can be prevented in cystic fibrosis by early institution of anti-pseudomonas chemotherapy.