Ramya Srinivasan, MD, discusses her article published in the January Pediatric Critical Care Medicine titled, “Plasminogen Activation Inhibitor Concentrations in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid Distinguishes Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia from Colonization in Mechanically Ventilated Pediatric Patients.” The article found that PAI-1 discriminated well between pediatric patients diagnosed clinically with VAP compared with those who were considered colonized. This resulted in PAI-1 being useful in directing appropriate antibiotic therapy in intubated patients suspected of having a new pulmonary infection. Srinivasan is a pediatric intensivist at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento and a translational researcher at the University of California in San Francisco.
