Pediatric Respirology and Critical Care Medicine

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year
: 2022  |  Volume : 6  |  Issue : 3  |  Page : 47--53

Assessment of bacteriological profile and outcome of empyema thoracis of hospitalized children: A single center experience


Sweta Sadani, Mrinalini Das 
 Department of Pediatrics, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati, Assam, India

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Sweta Sadani
Department of Pediatrics, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Guwahati 781006, Assam
India

Background: Empyema is often associated with the consequence of infection including pneumonia, tuberculosis, or lung abscess. This study was conducted to assess the clinico-etiological profile and outcomes of empyema thoracis cases. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective hospital-based observational study conducted from July 2019 to June 2020 which included patients of either sex, aged between 2 months to ≤12 years, with empyema thoracis confirmed by radiological evidence of pleural fluid. Clinico-etiological details were collected and presented using appropriate statistics. Results: A total of 42 patients were included in the study, of which 35.7% were aged between 4 and 7.99 years and 27 patients (64.3%) were male. Twenty (47.6%) patients had a history of cough for 7–14 days while eight had cough for >14 days; however, a total of 29 (87.9%) patients had breathing difficulty for ≤7 days. Chest pain was observed in 16.7% of patients. Chest X-ray showed that right side pleural effusion was more commonly affected than the left pleural effusion (69.0% vs. 31.0%). The most common micro-organism pleural fluid culture was Staphylococcus aureus (n = 8; 20.5%). The majority of patients with empyema thoracis had elevated levels of leukocytes (>11,000 cumm) and CRP levels (>10 mg/dL) [92.9% and 97.6%, respectively]. Conclusion: The present study showed that most of the children presented at the age of 4–7.99 years with a male predominance. S. aureus was the major organism associated with pediatric empyema in this region.


How to cite this article:
Sadani S, Das M. Assessment of bacteriological profile and outcome of empyema thoracis of hospitalized children: A single center experience.Pediatr Respirol Crit Care Med 2022;6:47-53


How to cite this URL:
Sadani S, Das M. Assessment of bacteriological profile and outcome of empyema thoracis of hospitalized children: A single center experience. Pediatr Respirol Crit Care Med [serial online] 2022 [cited 2023 Mar 26 ];6:47-53
Available from: https://www.prccm.org/article.asp?issn=2543-0343;year=2022;volume=6;issue=3;spage=47;epage=53;aulast=Sadani;type=0