Surgical and Medical Treatments of Empyema in Pediatric Patients

Background: Empyema in pediatric, if not treated adequately, would be an aggressive disease with many complications. Complete treatment of empyema includes broad antibiotics administration during the first week of the disease. However, in some cases, organized fibrinous tissue prevents antibiotic penetration and surgical intervention is required. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the duration of admission, duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy, time to response to treatment, and outcomes of medical and surgical interventions. Patients and Methods: In a retrospective, observational study, 60 patients with empyema were included; 35 were treated medically (medical group) and 25 surgically (surgical group). Results: Age and sex were not significantly different between the two groups. Only one of the patients in the medical group and one in the surgical group had immune deficiency. Coughing was presented in 25 patients in medical group and in 17 patients in surgical group as a symptom. Hospitalization days of were significantly lower in the medical group (12.4 ± 5.5) compared with the surgical group (20.4 ± 5.2) (P = 0.041). Duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy was not significantly lower in the medical group compared with the surgical group (P = 0.085). Time to response to treatment (from the admission day to the clinical improvement) was significantly lower in the medical group compared with the surgical one (P = 0.024). Mortality was 0% in both groups. Conclusions: If medical treatment gets started early in the course of empyema, prognosis would be excellent. Besides, there was no significant difference in short- and long-term outcomes between medical or surgical interventions.