OBJECTIVE: In bronchiectasis cases, isolation of the bacterial infection agent is related with diseaseseverity. The purpose of the study was to find the impact of bacterial infections on the prognosis ofbronchiectasis exacerbations in patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective, single-center, clinical study was performed on48 patients who were diagnosed as having bronchiectasis exacerbation in the ICU. Sputum culturesof the patients were collected at the time of ICU admission. Clinical characteristics, treatment withnoninvasive ventilation, IV requirement, and mortality were recorded.RESULTS: The bacteriologic sputum examination was positive in 24 patients. The bacteriologicanalysis of sputum cultures revealed Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 12 patients, Streptococcuspneumoniae in 4, Haemophilus influenzae in 3, Acinetobacter baumannii in 3, and Escherichiacoli in 2 patients. Seventeen patients needed IV during ICU follow-up, 7 of whom died. Bacterialproliferation in sputum culture was correlated to IV treatment need (P = 0.005). The radiologic diseaseextent was greater in patients with culture proliferation (P = 0.028). The patients who needed IVtreatment had a greater radiologic disease extent (P = 0.007), pulmonary artery systolic pressurepulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) (P = 0.004), C-reactive protein (P = 0.014), and number of hospitaladmissions (P = 0.017). A multiple regression analysis for treatment success involving the variables ofPAP, culture results, and radiologic disease extent revealed that bacterial proliferation was the mostimportant factor for treatment success (odds ratio: 2.05; confidential interval: [0.87–3.23]; P = 0.04).CONCLUSION: Positive bacterial examination of sputum is the most important prognostic factor forpatients with bronchiectasis exacerbation admitted to the ICU.