Tracheal secretion
| Description | Secretion from intubated or tracheotomized patients, obtained by means of suction via an attached collection container. The first sample should not be used where possible. In ventilated patients, secretion is obtained by aspiration of secretion from as far as possible from the deep sections of the bronchial tree, by means of a sterile catheter and put into a sealed, sterile transport container with screw top. The evidence of one or several pathogens in tracheal secretion is not to be interpreted as pneumonia. Germs can grow in the trachea without clinical value, especially in ventilated patients. Therapy should always happen in clinical context, differential diagnostics of potential other foci of infection is not to be neglected. |