DISCONTINUOUS THERAPY WITH PENICILLIN

Virtually all of the clinical experience with penicillin has been obtained with dosage schedules which provide what is generally referred to as "continuous therapy." Continuous therapy has come to mean the maintenance at all times of drug concentrations in the patient's blood equal to or greater than the concentration which inhibits growth of the infecting organism in vitro. The commonest method of providing continuous treatment utilizes frequent doses of penicillin administered at short intervals. The other commonly used method employs forms of penicillin which are slowly absorbed from the site of injection. Both of these types of dosage schedule are relatively simple and. practicable. Each has certain disadvantages, although these disadvantages have not been considered of importance in view of the therapeutic effectiveness of the drug.

Despite the fact that continuous treatment with penicillin is obviously highly effective, there is no proof that it is necessarily the most desirable or