Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24981955›Full record

Trial reportIntensive care medicine2014

Candida in the respiratory tract secretions of critically ill patients and the impact of antifungal treatment: a randomized placebo controlled pilot trial (CANTREAT study).

Martin Albert, David Williamson, John Muscedere, Francois Lauzier, Coleman Rotstein, Salmaan Kanji, Xuran Jiang, Mark Hall, Daren Heyland

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Intensive care medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Impact of selective digestive decontamination on respiratory tract Candida among patients with suspected ventilator-associated pneumonia. A meta-analysis.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2016
    Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. Associations Between Candida andMicroorganisms · 2025
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Isolation ofJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Staphylococcus aureus hitchhiking from colonization to bacteremia via Candida within ICU infection prevention studies: a proof of concept modelling.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2023
    Observational
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Germs · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 8 institutions in 2 countries.

Martin AlbertDépartement de Médecine, Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Université de Montréal, 5400 Gouin Ouest, Montreal, Canada, m.albert@umontreal.ca.
David Williamson
John Muscedere
Francois Lauzier
Coleman Rotstein
Salmaan Kanji
Xuran Jiang
Mark Hall
Daren Heyland
Centre hospitalier universitaire de Québec · CAClinical Evaluation Research Unit · CAKingston General Hospital · CANationwide Children's Hospital · USOttawa Hospital · CAQueen's University · CAUniversité de Montréal · CAUniversity Health Network · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeCandida spp. are frequently recovered from endotracheal secretions in critically ill patients suspected of having ventilator-associated pneumonia. Observational studies reported an association with worse clinical outcomes but the effect of antifungal therapy in these patients remains unclear. We designed this pilot study to assess the feasibility of a larger trial and to evaluate inflammatory profiles and clinical outcomes in these patients.

methodsWe conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter pilot randomized trial of antifungal therapy in critically ill patients with a clinical suspicion of ventilator-associated pneumonia with positive airway secretion specimens for Candida spp. We also included an observational group without Candida spp. in their airway secretions. We measured recruitment rate, inflammatory and innate immune function profiles over time, and clinical outcomes.

resultsWe recruited 60 patients into the randomized trial and 29 patients into the observational study. Markers of inflammation and all clinical outcomes were comparable between placebo and antifungal treatment group at baseline and over time. At baseline, plasma TNF-α levels were higher in patients with VAP and Candida compared to the observational group (mean ± SD) (21.8 ± 23.1 versus 12.4 ± 9.3 pg/ml, p = 0.02) and these patients had lower innate immune function as evidenced by reduced whole blood ex vivo LPS-induced TNF-α production capacity (854.8 ± 855.2 versus 1,559.4 ± 1,290.6 pg/ml, p = 0.01).

conclusionsThis study does not provide evidence to support a larger trial examining the efficacy of empiric antifungal treatment in patients with a clinical suspicion of ventilator-associated pneumonia and Candida in the endotracheal secretions. The presence of Candida in the lung may be associated with persistent inflammation and immunosuppression.

Indexed as

Antifungal AgentsBronchoalveolar Lavage FluidCandidaCandidiasisCritical IllnessDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsPneumonia, Ventilator-AssociatedProspective StudiesRespiratory SystemAntifungal Agents

Identifiers

PMID24981955
OpenAlexW2075327865

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.