Bacterial Etiology and Mortality of Purulent Pericarditis in Pediatric Patients

Acute purulent pericarditis is an infrequent but potentially life-threatening disease. Early and effective treatment requires a knowledge not only of the clinical course but also of the microbial agents most commonly responsible. Several reviews1-4have examined the etiology of purulent pericarditis, primarily in adult patients, but to my knowledge there has been no recent review of the disease in pediatric patients. This article reviews data on clinical and microbiological aspects of purulent pericarditis in infants and children based on a review of the literature.5-50The diagnostic features and differential diagnosis are not included since they previously have been well described.19,29,51 SUBJECTS Cases of purulent pericarditis in patients 15 years old or younger reported in the English language from 1950 to 1977 were reviewed. A total of 156 cases were diagnosed5-50and an additional six from the Children's Medical Center or Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas were