[Selective decontamination of the digestive tract reduces mortality in intensive care patients]

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) is a strategy designed to prevent or minimize the impact of infections by potentially pathogenic micro-organisms in critically ill patients requiring long-term mechanical ventilation. SDD is a four-component protocol to control the three types of infections occurring in intensive care patients: (a) a parenteral antibiotic, cefotaxime, for a few days to prevent primary endogenous infections that generally occur 'early'; (b) the topical antimicrobial drugs colistine (polymyxin E), tobramycin and amphotericin B (together: PTA) used throughout the stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) to prevent secondary endogenous infections developing in general 'late'; (c) a high standard of hygiene to prevent exogenous infections that may occur throughout the ICU stay; (d) surveillance samples of throat and rectum to distinguish between the three types of infection, to monitor compliance and efficacy of treatment and to detect emergence of resistance at an early stage. The most recent and rigorous meta-analysis examined 33 randomized SDD trials involving 5727 patients. It shows significant reductions, in overall mortality by 20% and in the incidence of lower airway infections by 65%. It failed to detect any report on the emergence of resistance and associated superinfections and/or out-breaks in the 33 studies covering a period of more than 10 years. Using the criterion of cost-per-survivor, four recent randomised trials showed that it is cheaper to produce a survivor using SDD than with the traditional approach.