Pentoxifylline Treatment of Very Low Birth Weight Neonates with Nosocomial Sepsis

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the result of intravenous pentoxifylline as an adjunct to antibiotic therapy on mortality and morbidity in very low birth weight (VLBW) preterm neonates with nosocomial sepsis. For the 18 VLBW preterm neonates, as an adjunct therapy to antibiotics regimens, pentoxifylline (5 mg/kg/h for 6 hours) was administered to premature infants with sepsis on 3 successive days. Clinical and laboratory parameters were recorded before and after treatment. Following pentoxifylline therapy, the immature-to-total neutrophil ratio and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were significantly decreased, while the blood pH and base excess were significantly increased ( < 0.05). The axillary temperature, noninvasive blood pressure, hemoglobin, leukocyte, and thrombocyte values did not significantly differ after treatment ( > 0.05). Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (32%), (7.3%), (5.3%), and (3.1%) were identified in the blood cultures. There were no short-term morbidities (intraventricular hemorrhages, necrotizing enterocolitis, periventricular leukomalacia, and patent ductus arteriosus), no adverse effects, and no mortalities during or after the pentoxifylline therapy in the preterm neonate participants. The CRP levels and heart rate both decreased, while the pH and base excess parameters of the blood gas analysis changed positively after pentoxifylline treatment in VLBW preterm neonates with nosocomial sepsis.

Vancomycin Is Protective in a Neonatal Mouse Model ofStaphylococcus epidermidis-Potentiated Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury

“…However, since biofilms are highly resistant to antibiotics, a search for adjunct therapies to boost immune defenses in newborns is needed (8). In particular, the immunomodulating drug pentoxifylline (PTX) has been investigated as a potential candidate (9,10). PTX is effective in decreasing mortality in septic adult and neonatal patients (11), increasing cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients with cerebrovascular diseases (12) and providing neuroprotection in experimental models of neonatal HI (13)(14)(15), rendering it a candidate adjunctive therapy (i.e., along with antibiotics) for neonates experiencing sepsis and HIE.…”

Pentoxifylline increases the level of nitric oxide produced by human spermatozoa

“…It increases the intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and stimulates the activity of protein kinase A (Kim, Hwang, Lee, Kim, & Abdi, ). In addition, PF inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor alpha and decreases the levels of plasma C‐reactive protein, a pentameric protein found in the plasma, whose levels rise in response to inflammation (Gonzalez‐Espinoza et al., ; Hamilcikan, Can, Buke, Erol, & Gayret, ; Queiroz‐Junior et al., ).…”