• Alev Gürgün, Pervin Korkmaz Ekren, Feza Bacakoğlu, Ozen Kaçmaz Başoğlu, Nigar Dirican, Şöhret Aydemir, Deniz Nart, and Abdullah Sayıner.
• Department of Chest Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. pervinkorkmaz@yahoo.com.
• Tuberk Toraks. 2013 Jan 1;61(4):288-94.

IntroductionVentilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most important causes of mortality in patients treated with invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) in intensive care unit (ICU). Microbiological examinations are required as clinical and radiological findings are usually insufficient in the diagnosis.Materials And MethodsTwenty four patients who were receiving IMV because of respiratory failure, had a Clinical Pulmonary Infection Score (CPIS) of ≥ 6 in the follow-up and died with the suspicion of VAP were enrolled in our study. Six patients were excluded as post-mortem biopsy could not be performed. The patients who had pre-mortem CPIS ≥ 6, in whom a causative organism was identified from the culture of post-mortem lung biopsy and/or histopathological examination of lung biopsy was compatible with pneumonia were diagnosed as VAP. In the 18 patients in whom a post-mortem lung biopsy was performed, quantitative culture results of endotracheal aspirate performed 48 hours prior to death were compared with microbiological and histopathological results of post-mortem lung biopsy specimens, and the role of endotracheal aspirate in the diagnosis of VAP was evaluated retrospectively.ResultsOut of 18 patients (12 men, mean age 67.0 ± 13.0 years) included in the study, 11 (61.1%) were diagnosed as VAP. The quantitative culture of endotracheal aspirate was positive in 9 (81.8%) out of 11 patients diagnosed as VAP. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of endotracheal aspirate culture for identifying VAP were found to be 81.8%, 14.3%, 60.0% and 33.3%, respectively.ConclusionOur study shown that quantitative culture of endotracheal aspirate is a practical and reliable method that can be used for the diagnosis of VAP in patients receiving IMV in ICU and having CPIS ≥ 6.

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