ArticleSurgical infections
Establishing Equipoise: National Survey of the Treatment of Pediatric Para-Pneumonic Effusion and Empyema.
Article in Surgical infections. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy, Safety, and Long-Term Outcomes of Shorter (≤ 4 Weeks) Versus Longer (> 4 Weeks) Antibiotic Therapy in Pediatric Empyema Thoracis: A Systematic Review.Indian pediatrics · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative Efficacy, Safety, and Cost of Different Intrapleural Fibrinolytic Agents for the Management of Empyema Thoracis in Children: A Systematic Review.Indian pediatrics · 2026Pooled it
- A Comprehensive Review of Pediatric Necrotizing Pneumonia.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Is There a Pediatric Role for the General Thoracic Surgeon in a General Hospital? A 22-Year Single-Center Experience.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Contemporary use of fibrinolytics in the management of pediatric empyema.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Article
- More isn't always better: antibiotic duration after surgical decortication in pleural empyema.Journal of thoracic disease · 2024Article
- Article
- Population-Based Cohort of Children With Parapneumonic Effusion and Empyema Managed With Low Rates of Pleural Drainage.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDespite six randomized trials of various treatments for pediatric para-pneumonic effusion (PPE), management approaches differ. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into opinions on PPE treatment with the goal of designing a definitive trial to generate consensus intervention guidelines.
methodsTo evaluate physician opinions regarding PPE management, we developed a survey based on input from a nationwide, multi-disciplinary advisory group that established content validity. The survey was disseminated broadly to six pediatric medicine and interventional radiology groups. Descriptive and χ
resultsThere were 741 respondents (response rate 13.1%), of whom 52.2% were surgeons, 15.2% hospitalists, 14.2% pulmonologists, 12.4% intensivists, and 6.0% interventional radiologists. Nearly all respondents (97.3%) reported caring primarily for pediatric patients. Eighty percent reported no written institutional treatment guidelines. Nearly all (90.3%) agreed that patients require antibiotics, but there was disagreement regarding their duration. Respondents also were split as to how often PPE required drainage. There were multiple absolute indications for drainage, including mediastinal shift on chest radiograph (67.2%) and loculations on imaging (47.7%). There were substantial differences in the preferred first-line methods of drainage based on the treating physician's specialty, with surgeons preferring tube thoracostomy and a fibrinolytic agent (42.0%) or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (41.6%), whereas interventional radiologists preferred either a tube thoracostomy (46.4%) or a tube thoracostomy with a fibrinolytic agent (39.3%) (p < 0.001). A large majority (75.3%) believed that the published evidence does not identify the optimal intervention.
conclusionsThere is a lack of consensus regarding the optimal treatment of PPE. Respondents believed the published evidence is inconclusive and were willing to participate in a prospective trial. These findings will help inform the design of a randomized, pragmatic clinical trial to optimize PPE management.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.