Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Resident doctor in benha health insurance hospital Faculty of medicine –cairo university
2
Assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery Faculty of medicine-benha university
3
Lecturer of chest dieseases Faculty of medicine-benha university
4
Lecturer of critical care Faculty of medicine-benha university
Abstract
Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) remains the leading hospital-acquired infection among critically ill cases, driving up mortality rates, complications, and prolonging mechanical ventilation (MV) and intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and increasing healthcare costs and complicating patient care. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of lung ultrasound (LUS) in facilitating earlier postoperative identification of VAP in cases undergoing major surgical interventions. Methods: In this prospective observational study, 100 cases post-major surgery were evaluated through detailed clinical assessment, including comprehensive history, physical examination, and routine laboratory analyses—complete blood count, prothrombin and partial thromboplastin time, international normalized ratio, procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), renal and hepatic panels. LUS was employed as the primary imaging modality. Results: There was a positive correlation between LUS and VAP with PCT on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days (r=0.525, 0.542, and 0.756; p=0.034, 0.029, and 0.002, respectively), and with CRP on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th days (r=0.654, 0.698, and 0.851; p=0.022, 0.018, and 0.001, respectively). Conclusion: We established the superior sensitivity of LUS as opposed to chest X-ray in the early detection of VAP postoperatively, with a Strong relation with CRP and PCT levels. Likewise, leveraging LUS for early diagnosis contributes to improved patient outcomes, potentially leading to benefits such as increased ventilator-free days as suggested by previous investigations.
Keywords
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