Risk Factors Associated with Surgical Intervention in Childhood Pleural Effusion

Abstract

Pleural effusion is one of the serious disorder in children that usually occurs after a lung infection. The treatment of these patients requires special measures, including the use of a chest tube to drain the fluid accumulated in the pleural space. However, in some cases, surgery is necessary. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors related to surgical intervention in children with pleural effusion. Method: The documents of all children with pleural effusion referred to Tabriz children's hospitals between April 2023 and September 2023 were assessed and necessary data were extracted. Then the patients were divided into two groups of non-invasive surgical treatment and invasive surgical treatment and the characteristics of the two groups were compared. Results: A total of 83 patients were included in the study (49 non-invasive surgical treatments and 34 invasive surgical treatments). History of ibuprofen and diclofenac increase the probability of invasive surgery. An increase in pleural fluid protein can increase the probability of needing invasive surgery among these children up to four times. Also, increased glucose in pleural fluid reduces the probability of invasive surgery by 0.9. Although the results regarding relationship between pleural fluid LDH and invasive surgery among studied children were statistically significant, but this relationship was not clinically strong enough and the increase in pleural fluid only increased the need for surgery with OR=1.001. between patients with PE. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, gender, weight, underlying diseases and residence. Long-term hospitalization and discharge with morbidity were more common among operated patients.