Efficacy of Combination Therapies for the Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections Based on Meta-Analyses

Takumi Umemura; Hideo Kato; Mao Hagihara; Jun Hirai; Yuka Yamagishi; Hiroshige Mikamo

doi:10.3390/antibiotics11040524

Efficacy of Combination Therapies for the Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections Based on Meta-Analyses

Antibiotics (Basel). 2022 Apr 14;11(4):524. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11040524.

Authors

Takumi Umemura¹, Hideo Kato¹, Mao Hagihara^{1

2}, Jun Hirai¹, Yuka Yamagishi¹, Hiroshige Mikamo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute 480-1195, Japan.
² Department of Molecular Epidemiology and Biomedical Sciences, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute 480-1195, Japan.

Abstract

There is increasing evidence regarding the optimal therapeutic strategies for multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria that cause common infections and are resistant to existing antibiotics. Combination therapies, such as β-lactam combined with β-lactamase inhibitors or combination antibiotics, is a therapeutic strategy to overcome MDR bacteria. In recent years, the therapeutic options have expanded as certain combination drugs have been approved in more countries. However, only a handful of guidelines support these options, and the recommendations are based on low-quality evidence. This review describes the significance and efficacy of combination therapy as a therapeutic strategy against Gram-negative MDR pathogens based on previously reported meta-analyses.

Keywords: antibiotics; combination therapy; meta-analysis; multi-drug resistant infection.

Publication types

Review