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Concept
Ventilator-associated pneumonia
Summary
Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a type of lung infection that occurs in people who are on mechanical ventilation breathing machines in hospitals. As such, VAP typically affects critically ill persons that are in an intensive care unit (ICU) and have been on a mechanical ventilator for at least 48 hours. VAP is a major source of increased illness and death. Persons with VAP have increased lengths of ICU hospitalization and have up to a 20–30% death rate. The diagnosis of VAP varies among hospitals and providers but usually requires a new infiltrate on chest x-ray plus two or more other factors. These factors include temperatures of >38 °C or 12 × 109/ml, purulent secretions from the airways in the lung, and/or reduction in gas exchange.
A different less studied infection found in mechanically ventilated people is ventilator-associated tracheobronchitis (VAT). As with VAP, tracheobronchial infection can colonise the trachea and travel to the bronchi. VAT may be a risk factor for VAP.
People who are on mechanical ventilation are often sedated and are rarely able to communicate. As such, many of the typical symptoms of pneumonia will either be absent or unable to be obtained. The most important signs are fever or low body temperature, new purulent sputum, and hypoxemia (decreasing amounts of oxygen in the blood). However, these symptoms may be similar for tracheobronchitis.
Risk factors for VAP include underlying heart or lung disease, neurologic disease, and trauma, as well as modifiable risk factors such as whether the head of the bed is flat (increased risk) or raised, whether the patient had an aspiration event before intubation, and prior antibiotic exposure. As a result of intubation many of the body's defenses against infections are reduced or impaired; this can result in an ability for microorganisms to enter and cause infection. Patients who are in the ICU for head trauma or other severe neurologic illness, as well as patients who are in the ICU for blunt or penetrating trauma, are at especially high risk of developing VAP.
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