Oropharyngeal and Nasopharyngeal Decontamination With Chlorhexidine Gluconate in the Reduction of the Postoperative Morbidity and Mortality After Major Pulmonary Resections

Despite improvement of per and postoperative management, major pulmonary surgery continues to carry out a high morbidity with a significant mortality. Among postoperative complications, respiratory failures (nosocomial pneumonia, ARDS) are currently the most frequent and serious, as well as being the primary cause of hospital death, after major pulmonary resections. Vast majority of these complications are notoriously infectious and should be considered as hospital-acquired infections. These complications result in a dramatic increased of substantial hospital costs in term of length of hospital stay, antibiotics and morbidity. Current management of these complications stands on antibiotics, oxygen supply and physiotherapy. In severe case, a ventilatory support (invasive or non invasive) is justify in near 25 % of cases.

Recent data have suggested that proximal airways colonizations could be an essential first step in the pathogenesis of theses respiratory failures. Previous works have long demonstrated that bacterial colonization was frequent between 21 to 40 % in lung cancer patients. These colonizations could act as a major predisposing factor to these postoperative respiratory failures. Because distal airways and lung parenchyma are free from bacteria at the moment of the surgery, respiratory complications should be the result from contamination by potential microorganisms belonging the upper aero-digestive tract. Consequently, decontamination of the oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal cavities before and during the first days after surgery could have a beneficial advantage in the prevention of these complications. This decontamination has been demonstrated to be effective in critically-ill patients in intensive care unit, in cardiac surgery and in esophageal surgery. Decontamination of oropharynx and nasopharynx with Chlorhexidine Gluconate has significantly reduced the rate of postoperative global hospital-acquired infections and respiratory infectious as well. To date, data on the efficacy of this decontamination protocol in major pulmonary resections are not available.