The authors used the findings at ultrasonography as a criterium to choose the most suitable surgical alternative for the resolution of pleural empyema in children. The preoperative ultrasonographic findings and the intraoperative aspects were compared, concerning parapneumonic pleural empyema in 77 children operated on in the Hospital Universitário of São Paulo University, during the period from between November 1986 to November 1996. A numerical classification of these findings is proposed. as well as a correlation between those data and the empyema pathological phase of the exsudative process is accomplished. It is included a description of respective postoperative clinical course, based on the need of a supplementary surgical intervention for a definitive cure to be reached. The authors conclude that ultrasonography is a reliable method to evaluate the evolutive phase of pleural empyema in children and to rationalize the most suitable choice in its surgical therapeutics.
Pleural empyema; Ultrasonography; Children; Surgery