Prevention of Gram negative nosocomial bronchopneumonia by intratracheal colistin in critically ill patients : histologic and bacteriologic study

To evaluate the efficiency of intratracheal colistin in preventing nosocomial bronchopneumonia (BPN) in the critically ill. Study evaluating the clinical incidence of nosocomial BPN in 2 groups of critically ill patients who receive or did not receive intratracheal colistin. BPN was assessed clinically in survivors and histologically in non-survivors. A 14-bed surgical intensive care unit. 598 consecutive critically ill patients were studied during a prospective non-randomized study over a 40-month period. 251 patients--31 non-survivors and 220 survivors--did not receive intratracheal colistin and 347-42 non-survivors and 305 survivors--received intratracheal colistin for a 2-week period (1,600,000 units per 24 h). The incidence of nosocomial BPN was evaluated clinically in survivors, using repeated protected minibronchoalveolar lavages, and histologically in non-survivors via an immediate postmortem pneumonectomy (histologic and semi-quantitative bacteriologic analysis of one lung). The clinical incidence of nosocomial BPN was of 37% in coli (-) survivors and of 27% in coli (+) survivors (p < 0.01). This result was histologically confirmed in non-survivors, where the incidence of histologic BPN was of 61% in coli (-) patients and of 36% in coli (+) patients (p < 0.001). Emergence of BPN due to colistin-resistant micro-organisms was not observed. Because colistin was successful in preventing Gram-negative BPN and did not change the absolute number of Gram-positive BPN, the proportion of BPN caused by staphylococcus species was higher in group coli (+) patients (33% vs 16%). Mortality was not significantly influenced by the administration of colistin. This study suggests that the administration of intratracheal colistin during a 2-week period significantly reduces the incidence of Gram-negative BPN without creating an increasing number of BPN due to colistin-resistant micro-organisms.