Thomas P Hellyer, Andrew Conway Morris, Daniel F McAuley, Timothy S Walsh, Niall H Anderson, Suveer Singh, Paul Dark, Alistair I Roy, Simon V Baudouin, Stephen E Wright, Gavin D Perkins, Kallirroi Kefala, Melinda Jeffels, Ronan McMullan, Cecilia M O'Kane, Craig Spencer, Shondipon Laha, Nicole Robin, Savita Gossain, Kate Gould, Marie-Hélène Ruchaud-Sparagano, Jonathan Scott, Emma M Browne, James G MacFarlane, Sarah Wiscombe, John D Widdrington, Ian Dimmick, Ian F Laurenson, Frans Nauwelaers, A John Simpson
BACKGROUND: Excessive use of empirical antibiotics is common in critically ill patients. Rapid biomarker-based exclusion of infection may improve antibiotic stewardship in ventilator-acquired pneumonia (VAP). However, successful validation of the usefulness of potential markers in this setting is exceptionally rare. OBJECTIVES: We sought to validate the capacity for specific host inflammatory mediators to exclude pneumonia in patients with suspected VAP. METHODS: A prospective, multicentre, validation study of patients with suspected VAP was conducted in 12 intensive care units...
January 2015: Thorax