Prospective, Randomized Comparison of Intravenous and Oral Ciprofloxacin with Intravenous Ceftazidime in the Treatment of Nosocomial Pneumonia
OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of intravenous and oral ciprofloxacin and intravenous ceftazidime in the treatment of nosocomial pneumonia.DESIGN: Randomized, nonblinded, multicentre comparative trial.SETTING: Seven Canadian university hospitals.POPULATION: Adult patients with moderate to severe pneumonia developing 72 h or longer after hospitalization.METHODS: After informed consent was obtained, patients were randomized to receive intravenous ciprofloxacin 300 mg every 12 h or ceftazidime 2 g every 8 h. After three days, patients in the ciprofloxacin arm could be switched to oral cipro...