FilmArray® and Management of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia in COVID-19 ARDS

Overview

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAPs) are a very common side effect in intensive care units. They are the leading causes of nosocomial infections and excess mortality in intensive care units: associated with a controversial death rate of around 13%. VAPs complicate about 40-50% of COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and the mortality would be twice higher. Thus, in this context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this represents a considerable rate of patients. Unfortunately, the risk factors for VAPs are poorly understood and the bacterial ecology varies around the world. Also, facing a high prevalence of multi-resistant bacteria in this population, the choice of probabilistic antibiotic therapy is complex and represents a considerable impact for care. New microbiological rapid diagnostic techniques have appeared in recent years, among them the FilmArray® seems to present interesting diagnostic performances with the ability to detects resistance to antibiotics. This technique has been studied in acute community pneumonia but has not been validated in VAP and even less during the COVID-19 period. Investigators decide to conduct this study to investigate if the early identification of the pathogens and their mechanism of resistance using FilmArray® would improve the relevance of the antibiotic treatment. The aim of this project is to evaluate the contribution of a rapid diagnostic technique to the management of Ventilator Associated Pneumonia during COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome before an interventional study.

Conditions