A 2-day course of prophylactic antibiotic therapy lowered the incidence of early ventilator-associated pneumonia among patients treated with target temperature management after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, according to results from the ANTHARTIC trial.

The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled adults who were hospitalized at 16 ICUs in France after an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest with shockable rhythm and who were treated with 32°C to 34°C targeted temperature management. Within 6 hours after the return of spontaneous circulation, patients were randomly assigned antibiotic therapy with amoxicillin-clavulanate injections three times daily to prevent early ventilator-associated pneumonia or saline injections for 2 days.