Compounding medication for digestive decontamination: Pharmaceutical aspects

Abstract

To assess the effect of selective decontamination of the digestive tract on respiratory tract infections and survival of patients treated in an intensive care unit, meta-analyses of clinical studies comparing patients treated with selective decontamination and untreated controls have been carried out. Analyses of these studies have shown a protective effect of selective decontamination on infections. On the other hand, the mortality benefit has been shown only recently [1]. Earlier studies with historical controls and randomised trials showed that mortality was not significantly different between treatment and control patients. The evidence from these studies is consistent with an effect of selective decontamination of the digestive tract on survival of patients in the intensive care unit, in addition to a clear preventive effect on the occurrence of respiratory tract infections [2]-[12]. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Italia.