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Intra-Abdominal Hypertension Causes Bacterial Growth in Lungs: An Animal Study
Eleni Papakrivou1, Demosthenes Makris2, Efstratios Manoulakas2
1Department of Critical Care Medicine, University Hospital of Larissa, University of Thessaly School of Medicine, Larisa, Greece; Department of Pediatric Surgery, General Hospital of "G. Gennimatas", A' University Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Abstract:
To study the effect of intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) on the frequency of pneumonia with an experimental study, thirteen Sprague-Dawley rats were included. Eight out of thirteen animals were randomly assigned to receive 10 ml of benzalkonium chloride 0.2% (megacolon group) and five animals received 10 ml NaCl 0.9% (controls). Animals were anaesthetized by intramuscular delivery of ketamine. The incidence of positivity for bacteria lung tissue cultures and mesenteric lymph node cultures was assessed at the 21st day after animals' sacrification, or before in case of death. All megacolon group animals presented progressive increase of the abdomen and increased IAP (≥10 mmHg) whereas the frequency of their evacuations was almost eliminated. Controls presented normal evacuations, no sign of abdominal distention, and normal IAP. In megacolon group animals, there was evidence of significant amount of bacteria in lung cultures. In contrast, no bacteria were found in control animals.
