Clinical usefulness of a perioperative bacteriological culture to treat patients with postoperative pneumonia after esophagectomy.

Although the perioperative bacteriological culture does not seem to be useful for predicting the occurrence of postoperative pneumonia, it is useful for predicting the pathogenic bacteria responsible for pneumonia in cases of postoperative pneumonia. The perioperative bacteriological culture helps us to select appropriate antibiotics to treat pneumonia after esophagectomy.