Real world experience of pseudomonas aeruginosa eradication at an urban pediatric cystic fibrosis center

OBJECTIVES Clinical practice guidelines for eradication of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) have been established, but current studies have not assessed how these guidelines translate into clinical practice. This study aimed to characterize the real-world eradication strategies, eradication rates, and microbiologic outcomes of patients with first acquisition of PA at an urban pediatric CF center. METHODS The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry was used to identify patients with CF who received care between January 2014 and September 2018 and had PA isolated from an airway culture. Patients were included if they had a first positive PA culture or the first positive culture in 2 years. Data regarding patient demographics, timing and results of airway cultures, and treatment regimens were collected. RESULTS Over a 3.75-year period, 75 patients had an initial positive culture for PA. Of those patients, 74 (98.7%) received eradication treatment. Tobramycin inhalation solution (TIS) monotherapy was the most common regimen prescribed (52.7%) followed by TIS plus an oral fluoroquinolone (28.4%) (TIS + FQ). Of those treated, 62 (83.8%) patients had eradication of PA at first follow-up culture (median, 58 days; IQR, 49– 77 days). Eradication rates (84.6% vs 76.2%, p = 0.421) and times to recurrence (6.37 months vs 5.1 months, p = 0.726) were comparable between TIS and TIS + FQ cohorts. CONCLUSIONS The eradication rate for PA in clinical practice is similar to that published in the literature. Consistent with published guidelines, these microbiologic outcomes do not support the addition of an oral FQ to TIS for initial PA eradication. ABBREVIATIONS BAL, bronchoalveolar lavage; BMI, body mass index; cystic fibrosis, CF; EPIC, Early Pseudomonas Infection Control; FEV1, forced expiratory volume in 1 second; FQ, fluoroquinolone; IV, intravenous; PA, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; TIS, tobramycin inhalation solution.