Ventilator-associated pneumonia: gearing towards shorter-course therapy

Current Opinion in Infectious Diseases
Thea de Jesus Chua, Thomas M File

Abstract

The studies that are reviewed in this article have all concluded that a shorter duration of antibiotic therapy (7-8 days) may be adequate in the treatment of the majority of patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia, and does not confer an increased incidence of mortality. Ventilator-associated pneumonia has traditionally been treated with at least 2 weeks of antimicrobial therapy. With the increasing emergence of multi-drug-resistant pathogens, however, efforts have been directed at minimizing the duration of therapy. Several studies have emerged over the last few years aiming to shorten the duration of antimicrobial therapy for ventilator-associated pneumonia. The minimum effective duration of antibiotic therapy, however, remains unclear. Further studies geared towards determining this are needed.

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Citations

Dec 5, 2008·Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy·Alexandros P GrammatikosMatthew E Falagas
Nov 21, 2008·Journal of Intensive Care Medicine·Margaret Bonnie RosboltBrenda G Fahy

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