Selective decontamination of the digestive tract in intensive care patients

Abstract

Selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) is a strategy designed to prevent or minimize infection in the intensive care unit. Despite being the best-evaluated manoeuvre ever in intensive care medicine, and one of the few interventions to have been subjected to scientific and statistical appraisal, SDD is still controversial. The reasons for this are discussed in this article.