Pediatric Tubercular Empyema Thoracis: A Diagnostic Dilemma

Diagnostic and treatment challenges of tuberculosis in a 12 year old boy

“…7 It has been shown that tuberculosis is also commoner in males [7,8]. It has been documented that pleural tuberculosis can be confirmed by acid-fast smears of pleural fluid in fewer than one quarter of cases but can be diagnosed by pleural biopsy and culture in >90% of patients [1,9]. Pleural effusion complicated by tuberculosis may be mixed up with other pathogens 8 as was seen in our case and reported by Khan [6].…”

“…Indeed, it has been described that anaerobic and tubercular empyemas usually present with a subacute illness, whereas aerobic bacterial infections of the pleural space present with an acute illness [1]. Cough, chest pain, difficulty in breathing and fever are common presenting symptoms [1,5,[7][8][9], which our case presented with. It is commonly unilateral [4,8,9], as was seen in our case.…”

“…Cough, chest pain, difficulty in breathing and fever are common presenting symptoms [1,5,[7][8][9], which our case presented with. It is commonly unilateral [4,8,9], as was seen in our case.…”

“…A four year old boy was reported by Najmuddin et al [9] with a left sided tuberculous empyema, whom was however treated conservatively. A 12 year old girl from Pakistan was reported with bilateral tuberculous empyema [6], she also had negative pleural AFB with Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated similar to our case.…”