Comparative Analysis of Chest Tube Thoracostomy and Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery in Empyema and Parapneumonic Effusion Associated with Pneumonia in Children

Abstract

Patients treated by primary VATS had a shorter stay and lower hospital charges than patients treated by chest tube and antibiotic therapy alone. There were no demographic, physiologic, laboratory, or chest radiographic data that predicted the selection of VATS as an initial treatment. These data suggest a strategy of primary VATS as first-line treatment in the management of empyema or parapneumonic effusion as a complication of pneumonia in pediatric patients.