Table 2.

Strategies for diagnosis of ventilator-associated pneumonia.

	Non-Invasive Strategy Tracheal Aspiration	Invasive Strategy Bronchoscopy and Bronchoalveolar Samples
Advantages	Quick Easy to perform Safe Inexpensive	Lower respiratory tract guided sample obtained High specificity Distinguish between infection and colonization Noninfectious diagnosis by direct visualization Safe
Disadvantages	Upper respiratory tract Difficult to differentiate from colonization Risk of overuse of antibiotics	Need for trained staff