Abstract
Background/Purpose
Soft tissue infections are increasingly being seen for surgical management, which
is associated with painful dressing changes, lost days at school, time away from family,
and scarring, which can have a great impact on both child and caretaker. We postulated
that a drainage technique using a modified Pezzar catheter would be associated with
shorter hospital stays and less wound care.
Methods
A consecutive series of 400 children with soft tissue abscesses was evaluated from
April 2007 to October 2008. Children were managed according to the operating surgeon's
preference. Children remained in the hospital until they were afebrile and the wounds
could be adequately managed at home. Drains were removed 1 week after surgery in clinic.
Results
There were no treatment failures. Three hundred twenty-two children were managed with
standard incision and drainage (I&D) and 78 patients with catheter drainage. Twenty-two
children in the catheter drainage group (28%) required hospitalization of greater
than 1 day compared with 151 children (47%) in the I&D group (P = .001, Fisher exact test). Thirty-four percent of the children managed with I&D
required packing at home, which was required in none of the patients managed with
catheter drainage. Patient age, catheter drainage, and site of the lesion were associated
independently with shorter hospital stays.
Conclusion
We conclude that catheter drainage of soft tissue abscesses in children is safe and
effective. Catheter drainage is associated with a decreased hospital stay. Other factors
related to shorter hospital stays include age of the patient and the site of soft
tissue abscess.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 30,
2011
Received in revised form:
May 25,
2011
Received:
January 28,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
