Abstract
Approximately 300,000 cases of hospital acquired (nosocomial) pneumonia are diagnosed yearly in the U.S. They are defined as an infection of the lung parenchyma that was neither present nor incubating at the time of hospital admission and became manifest 72 hours after admission. This definition, however, does not include outpatients or patients that develop pneumonia after discharge. Nosocomial pneumonias occur at a rate of 0.6–1.0 percent of hospital admissions in the U.S. and are associated with a high morbidity; they have the highest mortality of all types of nosocomial infection. To prevent this severe complication, it is critical to understand epidemiology and pathogenesis; several predisposing endogenous host factors and exogenous conditions have been identified. The former include age > 60, debility, depressed consciousness, immune deficiency, organ failure, COPD, smoking, and low serum albumin. Exogenous factors include recent thoracic or upper abdominal surgery, major trauma as well as prolonged duration of an operation and ICU admission. Medications such as steroids, immunosuppressive drugs, previous antibiotic therapy and H2-blocker therapy may also predispose to hospital acquired pneumonia. Most cases occur in non-ventilated patients, but the rate of pneumonia in ventilated patients is 20-fold increased.
Keywords
- Nosocomial Pneumonia
- Purulent Sputum
- Transthoracic Needle Biopsy
- Previous Antibiotic Therapy
- Depressed Consciousness
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mall, J. (1998). Nosocomial Pneumonia. In: Millikan, K.W., Saclarides, T.J. (eds) Common Surgical Diseases. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2945-0_85
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2945-0_85
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-94983-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-2945-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive