Methods The study was performed over patients intubated for at least 1 day in our ICU. Once the patient was extubated, tube was immediately stored in a plastic bag at room temperature and kept in a safe place until bench assessment. This was performed maximal 24 hours after extubation as follows. The endotracheal tube was attached to a filter (Hygrobac) and both were set to ASL 5000 active serv...
