Clinical efficacy of teicoplanin combined with L-carnitine for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infective endocarditis

Abstract

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of teicoplanin combined with levocarnitine in treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infective endocarditis (IE). Methods A total of 84 patients diagnosed with IE caused by MRSA admitted to our hospital from March 2018 to February 2019 were perspectively recruited, and then randomly divided into control group (teicoplanin and placebo) and combined treatment group (teicoplanin and levocarnitine), 42 cases in each group. Cardiac function indexes, including stroke output (SV), cardiac output (CO) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were observed before and after treatment. The clinical efficacy and bacterial clearance were evaluated and compared between the 2 groups. The levels of hypersensitivity C-reaction protein (hs-CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT), white blood cell count (WBC), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in the serum of the 2 groups before and after treatment were compared. Adverse reactions during treatment were counted and compared. Results There were no significant differences in cardiac function indexes between the 2 groups before treatment (P>0.05). While, SV, CO and LVEF were increased after treatment in both groups, and the above values in the combined group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P 0.05). The indexes were decreased after treatment, with those in the combined group more significant (all P 0.05). Conclusion Teicoplanin combined with L-carnitine is safe and reliable, and can effectively improve the cardiac function, promote bacterial clearance rate, and effectively control infection in IE patients induced by MRSA.

Keywords

• teicoplanin
• levocarnitine
• methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus
• infective endocarditis
• hypersensitive c-reactive protein
• erythrocyte
• sedimentation rate
• procalcitonin