Abstract

MENA GALVIZ, Liseth Susana; CARRENO ALMANZOR, Fabián Ramiro  and  CALA VECINO, Luz Libia. Etiological diagnosis of pneumonia: a problem of pediatric clinical practice. Medicas UIS [online]. 2020, vol.33, n.1, pp.39-52.  Epub Apr 30, 2020. ISSN 0121-0319.  https://doi.org/10.18273/revmed.v33n1-2020005.

Pneumonia in children is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality, especially in low-income countries. Due to this, it is indispensable to get a right therapeutic behavior, ideally focused by etiology, because the main consequence of not establishing an accurate etiological diagnosis is the abuse of antibiotics. The radiologic and clinic evaluations are basic pillars for pneumonia diagnosis and the knowledge in epidemiological behavior and biomarkers is very useful for an etiological approximation. Practical aspects were reviewed about pneumonia diagnosis in children, addressing clinic and epidemiological criteria (age and gender), acute phase reactants, radiological findings and etiological prediction models used as tools for differentiation between viral and bacterial pneumonia in children under 18 years old, in scenarios where it is not possible to find techniques for a right diagnostic, as those of immunologic and molecular types. MÉD.UIS.2020;33(1):39-52.

Keywords : Diagnosis differential; Clinical Decision-Making; Pneumonia; Pneumonia bacterial; Pneumonia viral; Acute Phase Proteins; Radiography Thoracic..

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