Abstract:Objective To compare the efficacy, safety and economics of imipenem cilastatin sodium or meropenem in the treatment of patients with early lung cancer complicated with severe pulmonary infection, to provide reference for clinical treatment. Methods The clinical data of 186 patients with early stage lung cancer who were diagnosed with severe pulmonary infection from June 2016 to June 2021 in Nanjing Chest Hospital and were treated with imipenem, cilastatin sodium or meropenem were retrospectively analyzed. Patients using meropenem were classified as meropenem group （n=115），and patients using imipenem cilastatin sodium were classified as imipenem group（n=71）. The clinical efficacy, pathogen clearance rate, all-cause mortality in hospital, inflammatory factor level［C-reactive protein（CRP）, interleukin-6（IL-6）, tumor necrosis factor α（TNF-α）］，adverse drug reaction rate, anti-infective drug cost, total drug cost, total cost and cost-effectiveness（C/E） were observed and compared between the two groups. Results There was no significant difference in the clinical total effective rate, pathogen clearance rate, in-hospital mortality rate, TNF-α, IL-6 and CRP levels before and after treatment between the two groups（P＞0.05）. The cost of anti-infective drugs, total drug cost and total cost in the meropenem group were lower than those in the imipenem group（P＜0.01）. The C/E of patients in the meropenem group was lower than that in the imipenem group. Conclusion Meropenem and imipenem-cilastatin in the treatment of patients with early-stage lung cancer complicated with severe pulmonary infection are equivalent in terms of clinical efficacy, reduction of serum inflammatory factor levels, in-hospital mortality and incidence of adverse drug reactions, but meropenem has better economics.