Ventilator-associated pneumonia bronchoscopy

The more targeted use of antibiotics also could reduce overall costs, despite the expense of bronchoscopy and quantitative cultures, and minimize antibiotic-related toxicity. This is particularly true in the case of patients who have late-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia, in whom expensive combination therapy is recommended by most authorities in the field. A conservative cost analysis performed in a trauma ICU suggested that the discontinuation of antibiotics upon the return of negative bronchoscopic quantitative culture results could lead to a savings of more than 1,700 per patient suspected of VAP (98). 

V. THE ARGUMENT FOR BRONCHOSCOPY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF VENTILATOR- AND NONVENTILATOR-ASSOCIATED NOSOCOMIAL PNEUMONIA... 

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