Resolution of ventilator-associated pneumonia: prospective evaluation of the clinical pulmonary infection score as an early clinical predictor of outcome.

Objectives: To prospectively evaluate the performance of the Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) and its components to identify early in the hospital course of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) which patients are responding to therapy.

Design: Prospective, multicenter, in a cohort of mechanically ventilated patients.

Setting: The intensive care unit of six hospitals located in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina.