Impact of Oral Care and Antisepsis on the Prevalence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of oral care and use of chlorhexidine gluconate on the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).

Materials And Methods: An evaluation was performed on 229 patients admitted to ICU in 2012 (before implementation of oral care protocol) and 329 in 2013 (after the protocol). Oral care was based on the removal of secretions from the oral cavity with 0.

Inflammatory markers in saliva for diagnosis of sepsis of hospitalizes patients.

Background: Inflammatory/immunological serum markers are useful for the early detection of organ dysfunction, helping the diagnosis of sepsis. Although the detection of blood biomarkers is a standard practice, the use of noninvasive samples (eg saliva) would be beneficial.

Aim: To investigate the saliva of hospitalized patients with and without sepsis and identify the levels of inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and nitric oxide (NO).