Penetration of Various Antibiotics into Sinus Cavities

Abstract

Initially, it was thought that orally or intramuscularly administered antibiotics did not reach the sinus mucosa in therapeutic concentrations [1]. In 1968, however, Lundberg and co-workers described a series of sinusitis patients treated with doxycycline whose sinus secretions showed appreciably higher concentrations of the antibiotic than the minimum inhibitory concentration (M.I.C.) for the isolated bacteria [2]. Since then, a number of mainly Scandinavian publications have reported penetration of many other antibiotics in therapeutic concentration into sinus secretions and mucosal tissue. All of the published reports concern investigations done in secretions and mucosal tissue of maxillary sinuses. For practical reasons, the present discussion will be limited to the penetration properties of penicillins, tetracyclines, erythromycin, and ampicillins, the antibiotics used most frequently in the treatment of upper respiratory infections.