Endotracheal tubes and prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Abstract

The prevention of nosocomial infections in general and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in particular remains a major and constant concern for both health care professionals and intensive care unit staff. Although many review articles, recommendations from experts, and consensus conferences have been published in the recent years, only few of them, if any, have been able to take into account the latest data from the literature on non-pharmaceutical prevention measures of VAP, including endotracheal tubes. This paper presents these recent studies and discusses their place in a comprehensive prevention strategy.