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FDA OKs Silver-coated Breathing Tubes
WASHINGTON, (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved
for marketing a breathing tube coated with silver to be used by patients
on ventilators.
FDA officials
said the thin silver coating is known to have antimicrobial properties,
thereby reducing the risk that patients on ventilators will acquire pneumonia
while in the hospital.
The Agento endotracheal
tube is intended for patients who must rely on a ventilator to breathe
for 24 hours or more. Such patients are at risk of exposure to hospital-acquired
bacteria that can accumulate on the tube or pass through the tube into
their lungs, eventually causing a lung infection known as ventilator-associated
pneumonia, the FDA said.
Fifteen percent
of the patients on ventilators develop VAP every year and 26,000 die from
the infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The device is
manufactured by C.R. Bard Inc. of Murray Hill, N.J.
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