Management for Pediatric Pleural Empyema in Resource-Poor Country: Is Chest Tube Drainage with Antiseptic Lavage-Irrigation Better than Tube Thoracostomy Alone?

Drainage by chest tube thoracostomy is widely used in treatment of early empyema thoracis in children, but drainage with antiseptic lavage-irrigation is more frequent in our context since the last 20 years. This study was to determine which was more effective in our experience comparing chest tube drainage with catheter antiseptic lavage-irrigation versus drainage by chest tube thoracostomy alone in the management of empyema thoracis in children. Patients and Methods: Demographic, clinical and microbiological data on children with thoracic empyema undergoing drainage by chest tube thoracostomy alone or with antiseptic lavage-irrigation were obtained from 2 thoracic surgical centers from September 2008 to December 2014. It was a retrospective study included 246 children (137 boys and 109 girls) who were managed for empyema thoracis at the author’s different department of surgery. Outcomes analysis with respect to treatment efficacy, hospital duration, chest tube duration, hospital costs, and need for subsequent procedures was analyzed and compared in the 2 groups. Results: Drainage of pus and antiseptic irrigation resulted in resolution of pyrexia with improvement in general condition in 85.82% of patients in group 1 and by tube thoracostomy alone in 73.95% in group 2. There are a significant difference in the length of hospital stay (p = 0.022), duration of chest tubes in situ (p = 0.040), treatment coast (p = 0.015) and outcome of stage 2 empyema disease (p = 0.037) between the 2 groups. Conclusion: it seems that chest tube drainage with antiseptic lavage-irrigation method is associated with a higher efficacy, shorter length of hospital stay, shorter duration of chest tube in situ, less cost and better outcome of stage 2 empyema diseases than a treatment strategy that utilizes chest tube thoracostomy alone.