No abstract

Measures of oxygenation and core temperature can help physicians to individualize and shorten the duration of antibiotic therapy in VAP episodes. ARDS patients with VAP take twice as long to resolve fever, whereas hypoxemia should be ignored in defining resolution in this subset.

Inadvertent endotracheal tube obstruction was common in patients requiring mechanical ventilation and may be significant as early as at 24 h. Moderate obstruction in endotracheal tube lumens should be suspected in cases of difficulties in weaning, even in patients who were ventilated for less than 1 day.