CClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT04276480PROBATAZOUpdated May 19, 2026

Efficacy of Piperacillin-tazobactam as Empirical Antimicrobial Therapy for VAP Among ESBL-E Carriers.

An interventional study of Piperacillin-tazobactam in Enterobacteriaceae Infections, sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux. Completed at 2 sites in France. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-19.

Sponsored by University Hospital, Bordeaux · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
9
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat worldwide and now concerns last-ressource antibiotics such as carbapenems. As the resistance to carbapenems is directly due to their use, their spare has become a public health emergency. Their efficacy in ventilator-associated pneumonia has never been compared to other classes of antibiotics such as piperacillin-tazobactam which can be an alternative to carbapenems.

Read the detailed description

The rising antimicrobial resistance has led to more than 33,000 deaths in Europe in 2015. Among them, extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) are the most frequent in Europe and carbapenems are recommended as a first line treatment by the guidelines despite the fact they are last-resource agents. Nevertheless, the overuse of carbapenems triggered the emergence of carbapenems-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Alternatives to carbapenems are needed to treat ESBL-E infections efficiently without selecting CRE. One strategy described during the last few years is to guide the empirical antimicrobial therapy upon the fecal carriage of ESBL-E. In fact, ESBL-E fecal carriers are more often colonised in the lungs with ESBL-E and have more subsequent ESBL-E infections than non-carriers. However, the positive predictive value of ESBL-E fecal carriage for subsequent ESBL-E is only of 40% despite a negative predictive value of almost 100%. Besides, a before-after cohort study with and without ESBL-E fecal carriage screening exhibited a decrease of carbapenems consumption without any clinical harm. Several studies compared carbapenems vs alternatives after ESBL-E documentation and did not find any clinical harm either but carbapenems were almost always used before documentation. At the best of our knowledge, no study prospectively investigated an alternative to carbapenems for the empirical antimicrobial therapy (before documentation) of ventilator-associated pneumonia despite those encouraging data. This study aims to assess the relevance of piperacillin-tazobactam as the empirical antimicrobial therapy in case of a ventilator-associated pneumonia among ESBL-E fecal carriers. The treatment will be then adapted according to the susceptibility profile. The follow-up of the patients will last until 28 days after their inclusion and until their discharge from intensive care unit if it occurs later. Bacterial susceptibility to the antimicrobial treatment and clinical outcomes will be recorded.

02

Conditions studied

  • Enterobacteriaceae Infections

Keywords

  • Fecal carriage
  • Ventilator-associated pneumonia
  • Piperacillin-tazobactam
03

In context

Enterobacteriaceae Infections

56 studies on the registry are indexed under Enterobacteriaceae Infections; 13 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 9 is below the median of 108 across 28 interventional studies indexed under Enterobacteriaceae Infections.

Browse Enterobacteriaceae Infections studies →

Lead sponsor

University Hospital, Bordeaux is the lead sponsor of 783 studies on the registry; 188 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  • Patient above 18 year-old admitted to intensive care unit
  • ESBL-E fecal carriage according to current screening recommendations
  • Suspicion of ventilator-associated pneumonia according to ICU society guidelines

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Septic shock according to Sepsis-3 classification
  • Neutropenia (neutrophils count \< 500/mm3)
  • Known fecal carriage of Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae or multi-drug resistant A. baumanii during the past 6 months.
  • Infection with a bacteria resistant to piperacillin-tazobactam during the past 6 months
  • Treatment with piperacillin-tazobactam in the 10 previous days
  • Proven hypersensitivity to penicillin or tazobactam
  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding
  • Curatorship or guardianship
  • Prisoners
  • No health insurance
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
9 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Intervention

    The patients included will receive piperacillin-tazobactam as empirical antimicrobial therapy. The empirical microbial therapy will continue until the bacterial susceptibility profile is known.

    Drug: Piperacillin-tazobactam

Interventions

  • DrugPiperacillin-tazobactam

    At the time of ventilator-associated pneumonia diagnosis, patients will receive an initial 4g loading dose of piperacillin-tazobactam with a continuous maintenance dose of 16g per day the first day of treatment. The dose of the piperacillin-tazobactam administered the following days will be adjusted to the renal function. The antimicrobial treatment will be adjusted to the narrower-spectrum agent after the antimicrobial susceptibility determination for a total length of treatment of seven days.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Mortality in Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

    Proportion of patients who died during ICU stay.

    Time frame: at day 28 after inclusion

Secondary outcomes

  1. Proportion of patients cured of infection on D3 and D7 after inclusion

    The proportion of cured patient is defined by the combination of : hemodynamic stability, a stable or improving SOFA score AND a stable or improving Pa02 / FiO2 ratio.

    Time frame: at day 7 after inclusion

  2. Proportion of patients requiring an escalation of the probabilistic treatment of piperacillin-tazobactam to meropenem.

    Therapeutic escalation of piperacillin-tazobactam to meropenem will be performed in patients in whom septic shock according to the Sepsis-3 criteria appears between inclusion and obtaining microbiological documentation and in patients in whom the condition respiratory threatens the short-term life-threatening.

    Time frame: at day 28 after inclusion

  3. Mortality at day 90

    Proportion of patients who died between D0 and D90

    Time frame: at day 90 after inclusion

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • Centre hospitalier de la Côte Basque
    Bayonne, 64100, France
  • Hopital Pellegrin
    Bordeaux, 33000, France
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on May 19, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04276480
Lead sponsor
University Hospital, Bordeaux
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 19, 2020
Start date
Feb 16, 2022
Primary completion
Apr 22, 2024
Completion
Apr 22, 2024
Last update
May 19, 2026

Study contacts

Laura RICHERT, Dr
study chair · USMR

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2024. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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