Is follow up chest X-ray required in children with round pneumonia?
Patrick McCrossan1,
Benjamin McNaughten1,
Michael Shields2,
Andrew Thompson1
1 Paediatrics, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
2 School of medicine, dentistry and biomedical sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, UK
Correspondence to Dr Patrick McCrossan, Department of Paediatrics, Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, BT12 6BA, UK; mccrossp{at}tcd.ie
paediatric practice
general paediatrics
An 8-year-old boy was admitted with a 5-day history of cough, shortness of breath and fever. A round opacification on his chest X-ray was reported as a round pneumonia by a consultant radiologist. He was treated with oxygen and intravenous antibiotics. He is clinically improved and medically fit for discharge. You have been asked to arrange a follow-up chest X-ray and wonder as to the value of this additional exposure to radiation.
Structured clinical question
Is follow-up X-ray required in a child with clinical and radiological findings in keeping with round pneumonia?
We performed an online search using PubMed and Medline (1946–present) in July 2017. The key terms used were 'round pneumonia' or 'round opacification'. We limited the search to include articles written in English and those relating to children. Our searches of these databases yielded 67 and 39 results, respectively. On review of titles and abstracts, we identified five relevant articles. …
Contributors The initial concept for this clinical question was devised by AT and he oversaw the project. AT approached PMC and BMcN to undertake the literature review and commence the process of writing the paper. MS kindly offered his expert opinion of the finished article and gave constructive criticism.
Towards evidence based medicine for paediatricians
Bob Phillips
Archives of Disease in Childhood 2017; 102 1180-1180 Published Online First: 20 Nov 2017. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2017-314328