Selective decontamination of the digestive tract in multiple trauma patients: a prospective double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. The authors concluded that "The use of SDD in the population of trauma patients reduces the incidence of bronchopneumonia and the total charge for antibiotics. Stay in the ICU, mechanical ventilation duration, and mortality rate were unchanged. Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci were selected by SDD in some patients and the clinical relevance of this colonisation needs further evaluation".