title: Clinical experience of managing empyema thoracic in children.
abstract: Data of 54 children with a diagnosis of thoracic empyema at a medical center in central Taiwan from January 1991 through April 2001 were analyzed. Their mean age was 4.4 years and the mean hospital stay was 13 days. Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common pathogen, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Haemophilus influenzae. These patients were divided into 2 groups according to the treatment method. Twenty-two patients were treated successfully with antibiotics and tube thoracostomy, whereas the other 32 children required further pleural decortication with antibiotic treatment. In patients with empyema, decortication allowed for more rapid defervescence than did closed tube thoracostomy (1.94 vs 5.04 days; p<0.001) and there were no complications in the group that underwent decortication treatment (p<0.03). In conclusion, the decortication of loculated empyema thoracis in children is a safe and effective management procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Fang-Liang
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Po-Yen
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jui-Shan
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hsiu-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Kun-Chia
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Ching-Shiang
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Chi
authors.forename: Yeu-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.forename: Hai-Chyi
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Peng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000382:microbiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000382:microbiology; D011859:Radiography