Aerosolized Antibiotics for Treating Ventilator-associated Pneumonia

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) remains one of the most common ICU acquired infections and is associated with greater ICU length of stay, mortality, and healthcare costs. Inadequate initial antimicrobial treatment of VAP is associated with adverse outcomes; however, early adequate therapy is increasingly more difficult to achieve. The misuse of antibiotics in ICU increase significantly the emergence of resistant bacterial strains which in role negatively affects the efficacy of treatment of VAP, So the Prevention of VAP is the main corner stone of decreasing its prevalence in critically ill patients. Intravenously administered antibiotics are primarily detected in respiratory segments of lungs, but not in sputum in contrast aerosol antibiotics administration offers the theoretical advantages of achieving high drug concentrations at the infection site and low systemic absorption. Large studies are needed for evaluating the efficacy of aerosolized antibiotics in treatment of VAP and the possibility of their use as prophylactic and empirical stand-alone therapies, thus minimizing systemic antibiotics side effects and toxicity.