Afsheen Batool Raza, Muhammad Haroon Hamid, Tahir Masood Ahmad, Farrah Naz, Iqbal Bano.
Microbial profile and treatment options of empyema thoracis in children.
Pak Paed J Jan ;35(1):25-30.

Aims and Objectives: To determine the causative organisms in children with empyema thoracis and to assess the frequency of various therapeutic interventions required in these cases. Study Design: Discriptive study of cross sectional case series type. Setting and Duration: Paediatric medicine department of the Children’s hospital and the Institute of Child Health, Lahore from Nov. 2004 to May 2005 Patients and Methods: Total 50 patients age between 1 month to 14 years and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. A predesigned proforma was filled for each patient which included history, examination and investigations. Treatment was given in the form of appropriate parenteral antibiotics, chest tube drainage and surgery depending upon the response. All the data were entered in to the SPSS-version 10 and results were analyzed in percentages. Results: Results revealed that thirty six patients (72%) were < 5 years of age. Commonest cause of empyema thoracis in this study was community acquired bacterial pneumonia (90%). Staphylococcus aureus was the commonest organism (32%) isolated in this study. Most of the patients (70%) were cured with antibiotics and chest tube drainage and in rest (30%) thoracotomy and decortication were also done. Conclusion: Community acquired bacterial pneumonia being the commonest cause of empyema thoracis warrants early recognition and proper treatment to prevent this complication. Empiric antibiotics in children with empyema should have cover for Staphylococcus aureus.

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