Search

Objective. - The objective of this study was to ascertain the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) cases admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).Patients and methods. - A retrospective study was carried out for the 10 PCP cases admitted to the PICU from 1980 to 2002. The variables studied were: age, sex, PRISM, underlying diseases, immunological status, clinical manifestations, radiology, response to therapy and clinical follow up.Results. - Age of the patients varied between 5 months and 15 years and 4 months and there were 7 females and 3 males. Underlying diseases included: AIDS (3 cases), renal transplant (2 cases), West syndrom (l case), cancer (4 cases). All presented an acute respiratory failure and 8/10 needed mechanical ventilation (mean duration: 14 days). All were treated by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 6/10 received steroids. Only one child died.Conclusion. - PCP is rare and affects mainly immunocompromized children who exhibit ARDS. Steroids treatment is now considered as an useful therapeutic adjuvant. A preventive treatment should be administred to children at risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]