Risk Of Ventilator-associated Pneumonia Cut Significantly

A study of 385 patients in the Netherlands determines a cost-effective way of significantly reducing nosocomial infections.

ScienceDaily: Risk Of Ventilator-associated Pneumonia Cut Significantly:

"Researchers found that administering the topical antiseptic chlorhexidine to critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation greatly decreased their daily risk of acquiring deadly hospital-related ventilator-associated pneumonia. The results appeared in the second issue for June 2006 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.

Mirelle Koeman, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, and 13 associates used chlorhexidine as an oral decontaminant paste to treat 127 intubated ventilated patients. The investigators treated a separate group of 128 ventilated patients with a paste composed of chlorhexidine and the antibiotic colistin. A third group of 130 ventilated patients were given a placebo paste.

In comparison to the placebo, the chlorhexidine paste reduced the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia by 65 percent and the chlorhexidine/colistin combination cut the risk by 55 percent."

"The interventions tested cost less than $100 per patient, making them extremely cost effective," said Dr. Koeman.

This makes it possible to save lives rather than kill patients with hospital-acquired infections.