Diagnosis of Ventilator- Associated Pneumonia in Children: A Comparative Study of Bronchoscopic and Non-Bronchoscopic Methods

Background and Objectives: There is a need to validate and suggest easy and less costly diagnostic method for diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia in developing country. The study was performed to compare available methods for the diagnosis and to characterize the organisms causing VAP. Design and Methods: All patients on mechanical ventilation for more than 48 hours and simplified CPIS ≥ 6 were enrolled prospectively. Four diagnostic procedures, endotracheal aspiration (ETA), blind bronchial sampling (BBS), blind bronchoalveolar lavage (blind BAL) and bronchoscopic BAL (BAL) were performed in same sequence within 12 hours. The bacterial density ≥ 104 cfu/ mL BAL samples were taken as reference standard.