A group of fourteen patients who had chronic osteomyelitis and were
treated with oral ciprofloxacin was compared with a group of twelve
patients of similar age who had chronic osteomyelitis and received standard
parenteral antibiotic therapy consisting of nafcillin, clindamycin, and
gentamicin, singly or in combination. The osteomyelitis was arrested at the
end of therapy and on follow-up examination of eleven patients in the first
group and ten in the second group. The average duration of antibiotic
therapy (thirty-eight days) and follow-up (approximately thirty months)
were about the same for both groups. Oral administration of ciprofloxacin
was as effective and safe as parenteral therapy for the treatment of
osteomyelitis in these adults.