Popular stomach acid reducer triples risk of developing... (ising the head of the bed for patients o...)

Popular stomach acid reducer triples risk of developing pneumonia

Date:9/14/2009

ising the head of the bed for patients on breathing machines, which reduces the risk of stomach secretions getting into the lungs.

But the study's findings suggest some other steps could keep critically ill patients from developing ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Doctors should consider whether an acid reducer is needed at all, Bowton said. The occurrence of stress ulcer bleeding has gone down in recent years, perhaps because patients with breathing tubes are fed earlier, and food in the stomach may neutralize or reduce the effects of stomach acid.

Bowton added that in cases where an acid reducer is needed, ranitidine is recommended, given the apparent decreased risk in developing pneumonia.

Doctors should stop using the drug as soon as the risk of bleeding passes once the patient is off the breathing machine and eating, either on his/her own or through a feeding tube.

"Stopping the drugs earlier appears to be the best thing for patients," Reichert said.

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Contact: Shannon Koontz
shkoontz@wfubmc.edu
336-716-2415
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Source:Eurekalert

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