Impact of Susceptibility to Injectable Antibiotics on the Treatment Outcomes of Mycobacterium abscessus Pulmonary Disease

Abstract

Current guidelines recommend a susceptibility-based regimen for Mycobacterium abscessus subspecies abscessus pulmonary disease. In this retrospective cohort study, the treatment outcomes appeared to be similar regardless of in vitro susceptibility results with regard to amikacin, cefoxitin and imipenem. Background Current guidelines recommend a susceptibility-based regimen for Mycobacterium abscessus subspecies abscessus pulmonary disease (MAB-PD), but the evidence is weak. We aimed to investigate the association between treatment outcomes and in vitro drug susceptibility to injectable antibiotics in MAB-PD patients. Methods We enrolled MAB-PD patients treated with intravenous amikacin and beta-lactams for >= 4 weeks at 4 referral hospitals in Seoul, South Korea. Culture conversion and microbiological cure at 1 year were evaluated based on susceptibility to injectable antibiotics among patients treated with those antibiotics for >= 2 weeks. Results A total of 82 patients were analyzed. The mean age was 58.7 years, and 65.9% were women. Sputum culture conversion and microbiological cure were achieved in 52.4% and 41.5% of patients, respectively. Amikacin was the most common agent to which the M. abscessus subspecies abscessus isolates were susceptible (81.7%); 9.8% and 24.0% of the isolates were resistant to cefoxitin and imipenem, respectively. The clarithromycin-inducible resistance (IR) group (n = 65) had a lower microbiological cure rate than the clarithromycin-susceptible group (35.4% vs 64.7%). The treatment outcomes appeared to be similar regardless of in vitro susceptibility results with regard to intravenous amikacin, cefoxitin, imipenem, and moxifloxacin. In the subgroup analysis of the clarithromycin-IR group, the treatment outcomes did not differ according to antibiotic susceptibility. Conclusions We did not find evidence supporting the use of susceptibility-based treatment with intravenous amikacin and beta-lactams in patients with MAB-PD. Further research is required.