Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
1989-5-26
pubmed:abstractText
The optimal technique for diagnosing nosocomial bacterial pneumonia in critically ill patients cared for in the intensive care unit remains unclear, especially in the subgroup of patients requiring mechanical ventilation. An important advance has been the development of the protected specimen brush technique. We and others have demonstrated that secretions obtained using this technique and evaluated by quantitative cultures are useful in distinguishing patients with and without pneumonia. However, this procedure has important limitations in that results are not available immediately and in that a few false negative or false positive results may be observed. Recently, the use of bronchoalveolar lavage has been suggested to be of value in establishing the diagnosis of pneumonia, since the cells and liquid recovered can be examined microscopically immediately after the procedure and are also suitable for quantitative culture. We believe that microscopic identification of bacteria within cells recovered by lavage may provide a sensitive and specific means for early and rapid diagnosis of pneumonia in this setting and that the lavage technique can be conveniently incorporated into a protocol along with the quantitative culture of samples obtained using the protected specimen brush. This combination will probably improve the overall accuracy of diagnosis while allowing the administration of prompt empiric antimicrobial therapy in the majority of patients with pneumonia.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jan
pubmed:issn
0934-9723
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
8
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
35-9
pubmed:dateRevised
2005-11-16
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1989
pubmed:articleTitle
Diagnosis of nosocomial pneumonia in intensive care unit patients.
pubmed:affiliation
Service de Réanimation Médicale, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review