Background The polymicrobial nature of complicated intra-abdominal infections makes these infections particularly challenging to treat. The initial selection of antimicrobial therapy is therefore extremely important.

Purpose The authors assessed the use of tigecycline in treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections.

Materials and methods A retrospective observational study was made about patients with complicated intra-abdominal infection treated with tigecycline in a Intensive Care Unit from November'07 to December'10. The authors checked: age, sex, APACHE II at admission, aetiology of infection, posology, antibiograms, duration of the treatment in days, clinical recovery and death.

Results During the study, 97 patients were included: 64 men and 33 women. The mean age was 58,5±17,7 years. With regard to the aetiology of infections, 64 patients were diagnosed of secondary peritonitis, 27 of abscesses and 6 presented tertiary peritonitis. The microorganisms more frequently identified were gram-negative bacilli (Escherichia Coli found predominantly) and gram-positive cocci (Enterococcus spp.)The average in the scale APACHE II was 16,5 ±7 points. The percentage of patients at admission with sepsis and septic shock was 43,3% and 56,7%, respectively. All the patients received the first dose of 100 mg followed of 50 mg every 12 h for intravenous route. The average duration of the treatment was of 9,5±3.75 days. Clinical recovery occurred in most patients (80,7%). The death rate was 27,8%, which was lower than expected, according to the scale APACHE II (36,7% expected). With regard to the safety, serious adverse effects associated to tigecycline were not registered.

Conclusions Our finding shows that tigecycline was effective and safe in complicated intra-abdominal infections when it was used according to authorised conditions (dosage and indications)