Bacterial Burden in Critically Injured Ventilated Patients Does Not Correlate with Progression to Pneumonia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is common in critically injured patients. The pathogenesis of VAP is not completely understood. We hypothesized that mechanically ventilated trauma patients who develop pneumonia have a progressive increase in pathogen burden over the course of ventilation until a threshold for symptomatic pneumonia is reached, leading to clinical suspicion of VAP.

Methods

Critically injured adults ventilated for more than two successive days were enrolled. Patients underwent daily surveillance mini-bronchoscopic alveolar lavage (mBAL) while ventilated for 14 days or until extubation. Standard semi-quantitative cultures were performed, and the investigators were blinded to the results. Standard patient management was performed by the clinical

SUBMITTER: Dennis BM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5961745 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May/Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature