Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
JOURNAL OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH IN MEDICINE-JAREM, cilt.11, 2021 (ESCI)
Objective: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the second most common form of hospital-acquired infection. Prediction of possible etiologic agents and initiation of appropriate and narrow-spectrum antibiotherapy is crucial to reduce morbidity and mortality. Clinical and radiologic variable analyses may help clinicians to foresee the usual cause of VAP. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study evaluating the clinico-radiologic characteristics of VAP in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) of a tertiary referral university hospital between January 2011 and December 2016. Results: A total of 1,323 patients in the PICU were followed during the study period, wherein 78 with a median age of 10 months (1-188) were detected to have VAP. Patients were divided into two groups according to the etiologic agents as gram-positive (n=16, 20.5%) and gram-negative VAP (n=62, 79.5%). Radiologic findings included peribronchial thickening (n=32, 41.0%), diffuse interlobular septal thickening (n=38, 48.7%), patchy infiltrate (n=54, 69.2%), consolidation (n=54, 69.2%), and pleural effusion (n=21, 26.9%). The presence of consolidation and pleural effusion were significantly more common among the patients with gram-positive VAP (p-values are 0.004 and 0.02). Conclusion: Clinical and radiologic evaluation of patients may be a clue for the estimation of the microbiology of VAP, which is highly recommended before the initiation of empirical antibiotherapy.