Background: Guidelines advise that patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) should respond clinically by Day 3 of antibiotics. White blood cell (WBC) count, maximum temperature (Tmax), and PaO2:FIO2 ratio are all said to respond significantly by Day 6. Resolution of abnormalities has not been evaluated in trauma patients.

Methods: Retrospective review of trauma patients with VAP. The WBC count, Tmax, and PaO2:FIO2 were evaluated for 16 days after diagnosis. Patients were grouped into uncomplicated VAP, complicated VAP (those with inadequate empirical therapy [IEAT], VAP relapse/superinfection, or acute respiratory distress syndrome), and concurrent infection+VAP (those also infected at another site).

Results: There were 126 patients (uncomplicated VAP=29, complicated VAP=69, and concurrent infection+VAP=28). The mean Tmax in patients with uncomplicated VAP decreased significantly from diagnosis to Day 4 (Day 1: 39 ± 0.5°C vs. Day 4: 38.6 ± 0.7°C; p=0.028) but never normalized. Their WBC counts and PaO2:FIO2 did not change significantly over the 16-day follow-up and never normalized. When comparing the three groups, the probability of resolving all three abnormalities was not different (p=0.5).

Conclusions: Clinical and laboratory abnormalities in critically injured patients with VAP do not resolve as quickly as suggested in the guidelines. Future studies should evaluate new methods to determine the response to antibiotic therapy in critically injured patients with VAP.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/sur.2011.128DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

patients vap
12
clinical laboratory
8
laboratory abnormalities
8
ventilator-associated pneumonia
8
patients
8
trauma patients
8
vap
8
wbc count
8
tmax pao2fio2
8
uncomplicated vap
8

Similar Publications

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common nosocomial infection in ICU, significantly associated with poor outcomes. However, there is currently a lack of reliable and interpretable tools for assessing the risk of in-hospital mortality in VAP patients. This study aims to develop an interpretable machine learning (ML) prediction model to enhance the assessment of in-hospital mortality risk in VAP patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The Modified Functional Reach Test (mFRT) was developed to assess sitting balance in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). No studies have explored which mFRT reach directions correlate with the center of pressure (CoP) variables in patients with motor-complete SCI (mcSCI). Addressing this gap is important for improving the clinical usefulness of the mFRT.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Bacterial infection of the lower respiratory tract frequently occurs in mechanically ventilated patients and may develop into life-threatening conditions. Yet, existing diagnostic methods have moderate sensitivity and specificity, which results in the overuse of broad-spectrum antibiotics administered prophylactically. This study aims to evaluate the suitability of volatile bacterial metabolites for the breath-based test, which is used for diagnosing Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Case report: Detecting giant cell arteritis in [Ga]Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9-PET/CT.

Front Immunol

January 2025

Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Clinic of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of [Ga]Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9 positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) in assessing disease activity in a patient experiencing a relapse of giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Case Presentation: A 90-year-old male patient with GCA, diagnosed in 2018, was enrolled. Demographic data, disease history, and laboratory parameters, including soluble VAP-1 (sVAP-1) levels, were recorded.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Development of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is attributed to the microaspiration of pooled secretions around the cuff of airway devices. Despite the emphasis on the use of endotracheal tubes (ET) with subglottic secretion (SS) drainage ports to prevent VAP, the quality of the evidence for this recommendation remains moderate. This prospective observational study analyzed microbiological concordance between SS and endotracheal aspirate (ETA) cultures to generate further evidence in this regard.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!