Evaluation of effectiveness of cold atmospheric plasma treatment methods for prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia

Abstract

Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) (nosocomial infection) are serious health problems that occur when person acquires infection during stay in a hospital for causes other reasons than that infection. Colonization of microorganisms pave the way for deaths, in detail, Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is remarkable in terms of mortality accounted for 15% of nosocomial infections. Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is common a disease, especially among patients that are on connected ventilators in intensive care units. It is defined as the pneumonia, in which occurs in at least 48 hours after mechanical ventilation, is provided via endotracheal tubes or tracheostomy. This infection occurs because of assault of microorganisms that settle in endotracheal tubes in respiratory tract and then in lung parenchyma tissue. The most common settling organisms in respiratory tract are S.aureus, P. aureginosa, K. pneumonia, E.coli and Acinetobacter, Candida, Enterobacter species. Due to multi drug resistant microorganisms, the current treatments are inadequate and the mortality rate increases. Therefore, plasma can play significant role for the management of ventilator-associated pneumonia. Plasma is ionized gas and defined as the fourth state of matter. The treatments of plasma in health care can ensure quick and pretty effect to protect from resistant microorganism to antibiotics to patients. The purpose of present study is to develop a method of plasma treatment which can be utilized for the control and prevention of ventilatör associated pneumonia. For this concept, we have designed different systems and determined optimum parameters to prevent and eradicate biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus, Acinotabacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aureginosa, and Candida Albicans in endotracheal tubes. Our results indicate that, various plasma treatment modalities are capable of prevention and eradication of biofilms grown in endotracheal tubes. Therefore, cold atmospheric pressure plasma treatment methods could be considered as for the management of ventilator associated pneumonia