Pharm World Sci
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Selective decontamination of the digestive tract: effect of cessation of routine application at an ICU.
Selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) with non-absorbable antibiotics was extensively used at intensive care units (ICU) in Europe to prevent nosocomial infections in critically ill patients. After three recent meta-analyses in which it was demonstrated that SDD did not influence hospital stay and mortality in these patients several ICU's decided to stop the routine use of SDD. ⋯ The cessation of the routine application of SDD in post-operative patients mechanically ventilated for 5 days or more did nod adversely affect survival nor increased length of stay at the ICU. There may have been a shift to infections as a cause of death after cessation of SDD.