Stroke-associated pneumonia: diagnosis, prevention, and treatment

Abstract

Relevance. Stroke-associated pneumonia is often caused by aspiration, since the swallowing reflex is reduced or weakened in patients with an acute cerebrovascular accident. To protect the respiratory tract from aspiration, a protective intubation of the trachea is performed. However, this procedure does not provide complete protection against microaspiration. Comprehending the mechanisms and risk factors, as well as attempts to reduce them, contribute to the prevention of stroke-related pneumonia. Materials and methods. The search for Russian publications was carried out in the database on the RSCI website, and foreign publications were searched for in the PubMed and Google Scholar databases in the period from 2000 to 2022. When analyzing the PubMed database, the query «stroke pneumonia» found 6,033 links. We also studied works on the following key words: «acute stroke», «dysphagia», and «stroke-associated pneumonia». Publications describing the clinical picture, diagnosis, and treatment of stroke-associated pneumonia were analyzed. A total of 47 articles were examined. Conclusions. Stroke-associated pneumonia is a serious complication; research on this topic is limited, and the proposed methods of treatment are not definitive and in some cases are conservative. In addition, some of the prevention strategies mentioned in this article need further research to confirm.