[Impact of a pneumonia prevention protocol on the results of treatment in patients in the acute period of stroke].

To evaluate the efficiency of introducing a local protocol for preventing pneumonia in the acute period of stroke, the authors analyzed the results of treating 52 intensive care unit patients who had a higher than 75% pneumonia risk. These patients were divided into 2 groups: a control group (before introduction of the protocol) (n = 25) and a study group (after introduction of the protocol (n = 27). A retrospective analysis showed a significant reduction in the total incidence of pneumonia (56 and 18.5%; p < 0.05), in the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (65/1000 and 19/1000 days of artificial ventilation (AV); p < 0.05), total mortality (48.0 and 14.8%; p < 0.01) and mortality among patients on AV (78.6 and 21.1%; p < 0.005).