• Hatem Kallel, Hedi Chelly, Mabrouk Bahloul, Hichem Ksibi, Hassan Dammak, Adel Chaari, Ben HamidaChokriC, Noureddine Rekik, and Mounir Bouaziz.
• Service de Réanimation Médicale, Intensive Care Unit, Sfax, Tunisia.
• J Trauma. 2005 Sep 1; 59 (3): 705-10.

BackgroundTo investigate the effect of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) on the prognosis of head trauma patients.MethodsWe performed a retrospective case-control study in which 57 head trauma patients with VAP were matched to 57 head trauma patients without VAP. Matching criteria were age (+/-5 years), Glasgow Coma Scale score (+/-2), Injury Severity Score (+/-5), Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (+/-5), and duration of exposure to mechanical ventilation.ResultsThe most causative organisms of VAP were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobactor baumannii (36.8% and 33.8% of isolated organisms, respectively). The duration of mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay were significantly increased in case patients (13 +/- 8.4, 24.5 +/- 18, and 30.8 +/- 18.6 days, respectively) compared with control patients (8.3 +/- 4.3, 12.3 +/- 8, and 20.3 +/- 18.7 days, respectively). Mortality rate was also higher in case (29.8%) than in control (12.3%) patients (p = 0.02).ConclusionWe conclude that the occurrence of VAP caused by high-risk organisms in cranial trauma patients may increase the risk of death, the mechanical ventilation duration, the intensive care unit stay, and the hospital stay.

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