Ventilator associated pneumonia in the ICU: where has it gone?
OBJECTIVE
To highlight the clinical importance of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in an era of escalating antimicrobial resistance.


RESULTS
VAP continues to be an important infection in the critically ill. The development of rapid microbiologic diagnostics and new antimicrobial agents offer opportunities for improved treatment strategies for VAP balancing the need to treat effectively in a timely manner and antimicrobial stewardship. Additionally, the new surveillance definitions for assessing the quality of care in critically ill patients (ventilator-associated events, ventilator-associated conditions, and infection-related ventilator-associated conditions) do not appear to be adequate surrogates for the identification of VAP.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinicians caring for critically ill patients should be aware of the importance of correctly treating VAP. As new diagnostic technologies and antimicrobials become available for VAP, their incorporation into routine patient management should occur in a way that optimizes patient outcomes wherein minimizing further emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
aDivision of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine and Division of Infectious Diseases, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, New Mexico bDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Cristina Vazquez
CV
Guillamet
Marin H
MH
Kollef
D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053717:Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology