Toma E; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1989 Jun 4-9; 5: 189 (abstract no. M.B.O.14).

Hotel-Dieu de Montreal and Universite de Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The current treatment for Pneumocystis carinii (PC) infection is efficacious in more than 90% of cases. Different factors contributed to this progress: better educated physicians and patients; earlier diagnosis; better management; extended knowledge of pharmacokinetics of PC drugs; the effect(s) of AZT treatment, etc. However, the incidence of adverse reactions is high and the initial therapy should often be changed. Several therapeutic principles are now recognized, such as: do not treat empirically; make an early specific diagnosis; non-specific tests (except for blood gases at rest and exercise), are not cost-effective and delay the etiologic diagnosis; consider PC also in subtle or atypical cases; mild to moderate clinical forms could be treated orally; dosage modifications have few effects on adverse reactions or survival; in the presence of side effects better change the initial therapy, etc. For patients failing and/or unable to tolerate "conventional" therapy 3, still investigational, approaches are available: eflornithine, trimetrexate/leucovorin and clindamycin/primaquine; however their effectiveness, safety and recurrence rate are not appropriately assessed. New therapeutic regimens will be probably suggested but all these treatments should be evaluated in well-designed controlled clinical trials and not to be used indiscriminately.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Anti-Infective Agents
• Clindamycin
• Drug Therapy, Combination
• Humans
• Incidence
• Pneumocystis Infections
• Primaquine
• Recurrence
• Trimetrexate
• drug therapy
• therapy

Other ID:

• 00078389

UI: 102176674

From Meeting Abstracts