Ceftriaxone and pseudocholelithiasis in children

A prospective study was carried out over a one year period in thirty children treated with ceftriaxone for salmonellosis, purulent meningitis, bacterial pneumonia, neuroborreliosis, bacteriaemia or meningococcal sepsis. Patients with salmonellosis were administered 50 mg/kg once a day during an average period of 7.6 days, and the other patients were administered 100 mg/kg split in two doses with average therapy duration of 10.8 days. Liver tests (bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase) were performed in all patients at the beginning and at the end of treatment. Abdominal ultrasound examination was carried out at the end of therapy, or earlier in the case of abdominal pain, and repeated every two weeks until normal findings were registered. The children were from three to twelve years old, with an average age of 5.7 years. Ultrasound verified pseudocholelithiasis was observed in 13 children (43%), of which seven (54%) were boys and six (46%) girls. Upper abdominal pain and mild increase of aminotransferases occurred in six children (46%). The ultrasound findings became normal within four weeks after the end of treatment in eight children (62%), within one to two months in three children (23%), and in three months in two children (15%). Pseudocholelithiasis developed in 14% children after an average of 7.6 days of 50 mg/kg ceftriaxone therapy, and in 86% children after an average of 10.8 days of 100 mg/kg ceftriaxone therapy.
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Category: Clinical observations - professional paper
Volume: Vol. 47, No 4, october - december 2003
Authors: B. Benić, N. Benić, B. Vuković, D. Vukelić
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