Immediate vs. culture-initiated antibiotic therapy in suspected non-severe ventilator-associated pneumonia: a before-after study (DELAVAP).

In patients with suspected non-severe VAP, waiting for microbiological confirmation was not associated with antibiotic sparing, compared to immediate AT. This result may be ascribable to low statistical power. AT suitability was better with the conservative strategy. None of the safety outcomes differed between groups. These findings would seem to allow a large, randomized trial comparing immediate and conservative AT strategies.