Original articleDiagnosis of parapneumonic pleural effusion by polymerase chain reaction in children
Section snippets
Materials and methods
A cross-sectional study was performed at the Hospital São Lucas da Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil. Samples were obtained from pediatric patients with a clinical and radiological diagnosis of pneumonia associated with pleural effusion, admitted and submitted to thoracentesis for 25 consecutive months. Parents gave consent for their children's participation. The research and ethics committee approved the study.
Results
Samples from 37 patients ages 1 month to 12 years, who attended to the emergency department of Hospital São Lucas da PUCRS, with bacterial pneumonia associated with parapneumonic pleural effusion were analyzed.
Twenty-three patients (62%) were girls. Infection in the right hemithorax was detected in 53% of patients. Bilateral infections were present in 6% of patients. Lobar pneumonia was observed in 30% of patients. According to the criteria by Light, 21 patients (57%) presented CPE.
Molecular
Discussion
The etiologic diagnosis of pneumonia with pleural effusion in infants and children has been widely studied. In general, there is a clear tendency to consider viral agents as the main cause of children's pneumonia in developed countries, whereas bacterial agents are common in developing nations. Moreover, the collection of appropriate material and the great variability between standard culture and immunologic methods are the major drawbacks.
Molecular diagnosis, particularly PCR, is a powerful
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