[[[ Purpose: ]]] The purpose of the study was to assess the diagnostic value of rapid pneumococcal antigen detection (PAD) in pleural fluid samples of children with empyema. [[[ Material and methods: ]]] We performed a prospective evaluation in a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary university hospital of children aged 1 month to 14 years admitted with empyema. Standard cultures (conventional microbiological culture [CMC]), PAD by immunochromatographic testing (Binax NOW Streptococcus pneumoniae; Binax, Portland, ME), and/or real-time polymerase chain reactions (RTPs) on pleural samples were performed in all included patients. [[[ Results: ]]] Fifty-five cases with a mean (SD) age of 6.5 (6.1) years were enrolled. Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified in 28 cases (51%): by CMC in 15 cases and by RTP in a further 13 cases. Using CMC and/or RTP as the criterion standard, PAD showed a sensitivity of 96% (95% confidence interval, 86%-100%), a specificity of 100% (75%-100%), a positive predictive value of 100% (98%-100%), and a Youden index of 0.96 (0.88-1.04). [[[ Conclusions: ]]] Pneumococcal antigen detection in pleural fluid specimens from children provides a rapid, simple, sensitive, and reliable method of diagnosis for pneumococcal empyema at bedside.
Pleural antigen assay in the diagnosis of pediatric pneumococcal empyema
소아 폐렴구균 농흉 진단에서 흉막 항원 검사
[Category] 폐렴구균 감염증,
[Article Type] journal-article
[Source] pubmed
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