These results suggest that the safety and efficacy of piperacillin/tazobactam administered every 8 hours are equivalent to those of imipenem/cilastatin administered every 6 hours for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections.

BackgroundComplicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSIs) frequently result in hospitalization with significant morbidity and mortality.MethodsIn this phase 3b/4 parallel, randomized, open-label, comparative study, 531 subjects with cSSSI received tigecycline (100 mg initial dose, then 50 mg intravenously every 12 hrs) or ampicillin-sulbactam 1.5-3 g IV every 6 hrs or amoxicillin-clavulanate 1.2 g IV every 6-8 hrs. Vancomycin could be added at the discretion of the investigator to the comparator arm if methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was confirmed or suspected within 72 hrs of enrollment. The primary endpoint was clinical response in the clinically evaluable (CE) population at the test-of-cure (TOC) visit. Microbiologic response and safety were also assessed. The modified intent-to-treat (mITT) population comprised 531 subjects (tigecycline, n = 268; comparator, n = 263) and 405 were clinically evaluable (tigecycline, n = 209; comparator, n = 196).ResultsIn the CE population, 162/209 (77.5%) tigecycline-treated subjects and 152/196 (77.6%) comparator-treated subjects were clinically cured (difference 0.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -8.7, 8.6). The eradication rates at the subject level for the microbiologically evaluable (ME) population were 79.2% in the tigecycline treatment group and 76.8% in the comparator treatment group (difference 2.4; 95% CI: -9.6, 14.4) at the TOC assessment. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea rates were higher in the tigecycline group.ConclusionsTigecycline was generally safe and effective in the treatment of cSSSIs.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT00368537

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Quality of training can be improved by changing to a curriculum and competency based model, utilization of continuous assessment methods, reducing service requirements and better compensation for trainers. Southeast Asia has the potential to provide centres of excellence for surgical training. Surgical educators in SEA will find useful information in this paper to improve their programs which will hopefully evolve into a common core curriculum and enable cross border exchange of surgical trainees in SEA for broader exposure.

While outpatient haemorrhoidectomy under local anaesthesia was generally well tolerated, there was no statistically significant difference between EMLA cream and placebo for decreasing pain during anaesthetic infiltration.