Efficacy and safety of Linezolid versus Vancomycin in treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in ICU

Objective To compare the efficacy and safety of linezolid versus vancomycin in treatment of pneumonia caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) in ICU.Methods Between May 2008 and November 2010,72 patients with MRSA pneumonia were admitted to Wenzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital.The patients received 600 mg linezolid or 1 g vancomycin every 12 h daily.The therapeutic effect,bacterial clearance and adverse events were compared between the two treatments.Results The rates of full recovery and overall response were 25.7% and 65.7% for vancomycin versus 18.9% and 51.4% for linezolid in the treatment of MRSA infection.The bacterium clearance rates were 71.4% and 48.6%;and the incidence of side effects were 8.5% and 5.4%,respectively.There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of full recovery,bacterial clearance and overall incidence of adverse effects(P0.05).Conclusion For treatment of MRSA infections,Linezolid is similar to vancomycin in microbial susceptibility,overall efficacy,good safety and patient tolerance.Linezolid may be more effective than vancomycin in microbiological eradication from sputum.