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Abstract
Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most frequent infection among patients hospitalized in intensive care units, maintaining a high morbidity and mortality. The global incidence of VAP ranges from 8 to 28%. Early-onset VAP is mainly caused by community pathogens with a favorable pattern of antibiotic sensitivity, whereas late-onset VAP is often caused by multidrug-resistant pathogens, mainly methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. and enteric Gram-negative bacilli. The diagnosis of VAP remains difficult to confirm, lacking both microbiological analysis and radiological signs of high specificity. The Clinical Infection Pulmonary Score has been proposed to overcome the difficulties related to the diagnosis, but is not applicable to all patient categories. A continuous evaluation of the antimicrobial therapeutic options, along with their pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles, is mandatory to create therapeutic protocols and reduce VAP-related mortality.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
M Bassetti serves on scientific advisory boards for Pfizer, Inc., Merck Serono, Novartis, Shionogi and Co., Ltd, and Astellas Pharma, Inc.; and has received funding for travel or speaker honoraria from Pfizer, Inc., Merck Serono, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Sanofi-Aventis, Cephalon, Inc., Bayer Schering Pharma, Janssen and Astellas Pharma, Inc. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.