Efficacy of meropenem in extended/continuous infusion

Objective: To review the studies that compared standard administration of meropenem with extended or continuous infusion and to determine their efficacy. Method: A bibliographical search of biomedical databases. Results: Five studies were selected. In the study of Lorente L et al, clinical cure rates was of 90.47% among the continuous infusion group. Risk ratio was 0% in the Wang D et al study. Langgartner et al study, determined no inferiority of the unconventional methods against standard. Chytra et al, proved 90.6% of bacteriologic efficacy. In the clinical report of Domenig et al, infection signs and symptoms of the patient disappeared. Conclusions: Due to the limited data, the high efficacy and safety of extended or continuous infusion cannot be proved. There is pharmacokinetic and economical data, which may establish such hypothesis performing a controlled clinical trial