Two days of prophylactic antibiotic treatment administered shortly after cardiac arrest can cut early ventilation-associated pneumonia in selected patients, a French trial shows.

Nearly 200 adult patients, with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with shockable rhythm and on targeted temperature management between 32°C and 34°C, were randomised either to injections of amoxicillin-clavulanate (1g/200mg three times daily) or to saline placebo injections for two days.

Targeted temperature management was a known risk factor for early ventilator-associated pneumonia, the authors noted in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Their double-blinded trial, known as ANTHARTIC, was carried out in 16 French ICUs between 2014 and 2017. Study treatment was started within six hours of the cardiac arrest.