Editor's choice: Preliminary Evaluation of a Sitafloxacin-Containing Regimen for Relapsed or Refractory Pulmonary Mycobacterium avium Complex Disease

Although sitafloxacin (STFX) is known to have a favorable minimum inhibitory concentration for Mycobacterium avium, few studies have evaluated the clinical efficacy of an STFX-containing regimen for pulmonary M avium complex (MAC) disease. To evaluate the clinical efficacy of STFX-containing regimens for relapsed or refractory pulmonary MAC disease, we retrospectively reviewed 18 patients with pulmonary MAC disease who received STFX for at least 4 weeks for pulmonary MAC disease between January 2008 and February 2016. Of 18 patients, 10 (55.6%) showed improved radiological characteristics and 8 (44.4%) showed negative sputum cultures at 6 months. Regarding the clinical symptoms, improvements were observed in decreasing order in sputum production (77.8%), cough (72.2%), and malaise (55.6%). Common adverse events included nausea or vomiting (38.9%), followed by loose stool or diarrhea (27.8%) and sleepiness (11.1%). Although this study contained a small number of subjects, we describe a STFX-containing regimen that was effective in achieving sputum culture negative conversions and had an acceptable adverse events profile