A clinical trial of silver-coated and tapered cuff plus supraglottic suctioning endotracheal tubes in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia

Novel designs of the endotracheal tube (ETT) are emerged to reduce the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). We evaluated the effect of two different types, namely silver-coated (Bactiguard) and subglottic suctioning (Taperguard) ETTs, on the incidence of VAP in critically-ill patients. A total of 90 patients, mechanically ventilated for >72 h, were randomly assigned to Bactiguard and Taperguard groups. They otherwise received routine...