Table 3.

Relationship Between Dye Visibility and Volume of Suctioned Tracheobronchial Secretions

Condition	Suctioned Secretions, mean ± SD	p Value
2 h
Dye not visible (n = 34)	0.25 ± 0.20	NS*
Dye visible (n = 56)	0.21 ± 0.20
4 h
Dye not visible (n = 46)	0.72 ± 1.12	< 0.01
Dye visible (n = 44)	0.27 ± 0.18
6 h
Dye not visible (n = 65)	0.57 ± 0.57	NS*
Dye visible (n = 25)	0.41 ± 0.27

^*NS = not significant at the 0.05 level.