[The effect of intubation, tracheotomy and central venous catheter on pneumonia and sepsis in burn patients].

In 58 patients with extensive deep dermal burns the consequences of intubation, tracheotomy and central venous catheter in respect to pneumonia and bacteriaemia were studied. The sputum of tracheotomized patients showed twice as many pathogenic bacteria as the sputum of patients with prolonged intubation. From 93 subclavian catheters under bacteriological control 16 (17%) showed pathogenic bacteria on the tip. An identity between the bacille found in the blood stream and on the catheter tip was only found in 21%. From this study it seems conclusively that prolonged intubation is generally preverable to tracheostomy in severely burned patients and that the venous catheter can not be the most frequent cause of bacteriaemia.