OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical value of pleural biopsy in the etiological diagnosis of pleurisy in children.

METHODTotally 213 cases with pleurisy, who underwent pleural biopsy and hospitalized in Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from January 2007 to April 2014 were enrolled into this study. Clinical symptoms, imaging manifestations, pleural fluid characteristics, the results of pleural biopsy and postoperative complications were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the clinical value and security of pleural biopsy in making the etiological diagnosis of pleurisy.

RESULT(1) Of the 213 cases, 144 were boys and 69 were girls, their mean age was (6. 5 ± 4. 1) years. (2) Two hundred and thirteen patients had a surgical pleural biopsy under general anesthesia, the cause of 97 cases (45. 5%) were made clear by histopathological examination, including 35 purulent pleurisy, 55 tuberculous pleurisy and 7 paragonimus infection. For the remaining 83 (41. 3%) cases a final diagnosis was made based on the full analysis of clinical data, including 63 cases of purulent pleurisy, 3 cases of tuberculous pleurisy and 17 cases of paragonimiasis pleurisy but for 33 patients no exact cause was found at the end. (3) The mean operating time of the biopsy was (1. 4 ± 0. 6) hours. Seventy one (33. 3%) patients required blood transfusion during or after the operation. Thirty one (14. 6%) cases used the ventilator after surgery, and the ventilator supporting time was (6. 6 ± 5. 8) hours on average. The wound healing reached grade A in 200 cases (93. 9%), grade B in 13 cases (14. 6%). Postoperative complications included pneumothorax in 92 cases (43. 2%), subcutaneous emphysema in 18 cases (8. 5%), bronchopleural fistula in 3 cases(1. 4%). The average days of hospitalization was (17. 7 ± 7. 1) d.

CONCLUSIONPleural biopsy is of great diagnostic value in the etiological diagnosis and differential diagnosis of pleurisy in children, and it is considered reasonable to be used in the clinical practice when appropriate.