• Clara Fernandez Elviro, Bryn Longcroft-Harris, Emily Allin, Leire Leache, Kellan Woo, Jeffrey N Bone, Colleen Pawliuk, Jalal Tarabishi, Matthew Carwana, Marie Wright, Nassr Nama, and InsightScope Team.
• Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Department Woman-Mother-Child, Service of Paediatrics, Paediatric Pulmonology and Cystic Fibrosis Unit, University Hospital of Lausanne and Faculty of Biology and Medicine, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
• Chest. 2023 Nov 1; 164 (5): 112511381125-1138.

BackgroundThe optimal treatment for community-acquired childhood pneumonia complicated by empyema remains unclear.Research QuestionIn children with parapneumonic effusion or empyema, do hospital length of stay and other key clinical outcomes differ according to the treatment modality used?Study Design And MethodsA living systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted by searching the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature, Ovid MEDLINE, and Web of Science Core Collection databases. Eligible RCTs included patients aged < 18 years and compared two of the following treatment modalities: antibiotics alone, chest tube insertion with or without fibrinolytics, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and decortication via thoracotomy. A network meta-analysis was performed to evaluate treatment effects on hospital length of stay (LOS), the primary outcome.ResultsEleven trials including a total of 590 patients were selected for the network meta-analysis. Compared with a chest tube alone, a chest tube with fibrinolytics, thoracotomy, and VATS were all associated with shorter LOS, with a mean difference of 5.05 days (95% CI, 2.46-7.64), 6.33 days (95% CI, 3.17-9.50), and 5.86 days (95% CI, 3.38-8.35), respectively. No substantial differences in LOS were observed between the latter three interventions. None of the 11 RCTs compared antibiotics alone vs other types of treatment. Most trials reported peri-procedural complications and the need for reintervention, but the descriptions differed significantly between trials, preventing meta-analysis. In trials reporting health care-associated costs, fibrinolytics had cost advantages compared with VATS. Short- and long-term morbidity and mortality were very low, regardless of the treatment modality.InterpretationThe results of this network meta-analysis showed that a chest tube alone was associated with a longer LOS compared with other treatment modalities. The lower cost associated with a chest tube plus fibrinolytics warrants consideration when choosing between treatment options, given similar LOS and clinical outcomes compared with the other modalities.Copyright © 2023 American College of Chest Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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