Introduction
Tigecycline is a potential alternative to trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole in treating
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
infections due to its potent in vitro antimicrobial activity. Clinical evidence regarding the use of tigecycline in the treatment of
S. maltophilia
infections is scarce. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of tigecycline treating ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) due to
S. maltophilia
in comparison with fluoroquinolones.
Methods
This is a multicenter retrospective cohort study of patients admitted between January 2017 and December 2020 with the diagnosis of VAP caused by
S. maltophilia
receiving either tigecycline or fluoroquinolones as the definitive therapy ≥ 48 h. Clinical outcomes including 28-day mortality, clinical cure and microbiological cure were analyzed.
Results
Of 82 patients with
S. maltophilia
VAP included, 46 received tigecycline, and 36 received fluoroquinolones; 70.7% of patients had polymicrobial pneumonia, and the appropriate empiric therapy was applied to only 14.6% of patients. The overall 28-day mortality was 39%. Compared with patients receiving fluoroquinolones, tigecycline therapy resulted in worse clinical cure (32.6% vs. 63.9%,
p
= 0.009) and microbiological cure (28.6% vs. 59.1%,
p
= 0.045), while there was no statistical difference between 28-day mortality (47.8% vs. 27.8%,
p
= 0.105) in the two groups. Similar results were also shown in the inverse probability of treatment weighted univariable regression model and multivariable regression model.
Conclusions
The standard dose of tigecycline therapy was associated with a lower clinical and microbiological cure rate but not associated with an increased 28-day mortality in patients with
S. maltophilia
VAP compared with fluoroquinolones. Considering the unfavorable clinical outcomes, we therefore recommend against using the standard dose of tigecycline in treating
S. maltophilia
VAP unless new clinical evidence emerges.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40121-021-00516-5.