Clinical experience of managing empyema thoracic in children.
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.
Huang
Fang-Liang
FL
Department of Pediatrics, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
Chen
Po-Yen
PY
Ma
Jui-Shan
JS
Yu
Hsiu-Wen
HW
Lu
Kun-Chia
KC
Chi
Ching-Shiang
CS
Lau
Yeu-Jun
YJ
Peng
Hai-Chyi
HC
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