Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Jun;27(3):321.e1-4.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2011.05.004. Epub 2011 Jul 6.

Pleural antigen assay in the diagnosis of pediatric pneumococcal empyema

Federico Martinón-Torres  1 , Silvia Dosil-Gallardo, María Luisa Perez del Molino-Bernal, Fernanda Pardo Sánchez, David Tarrago, Fernando Alvez, Sonia Pertega Diaz, Nazareth Martinón-Torres, Jose Maria Martinon Sanchez
Affiliations

Pleural antigen assay in the diagnosis of pediatric pneumococcal empyema

Federico Martinón-Torres et al. J Crit Care. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Substances