The purpose of this study is to determine the best treatment for children with a fluid collection in the chest associated with an underlying pneumonia. Researchers generally agree that a child with a large fluid collection in the chest need to have the fluid drained in addition to anitbiotics. There have been many treatments studied in children that have been shown to be effective and safe, but the treatments have never been compared to each other in a randomized controlled study. The optimal treatment of pediatric parapneumonic effusions remains controversial. The objective of this study is to compare the use of conventional management (antibiotics with thoracostomy tube placement) with primary thorascopic drainage (see protocol). Our hypothesis is that pediatric patients with parapneumonic effusion, regardless of pleural fluid composition and loculations, have decreased morbidity when treated with early thoroscopic adhesiolysis (VATS) compared with conservative treatment.
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establish morbidity outcomes
duration of fever
number of procedures
days with a chest drainage device
total hospital days