Jg. Tietche,"fotsin et al., ACUTE FEVER IN PEDIATRIC-PATIENTS - CONTR IBUTION OF ROUTINE CHEST FILMS TO THE DIAGNOSIS, La Semaine des hopitaux de Paris, 72(19-20), 1996, pp. 599-602
The objective of this study was to evaluate the contribution of a rout
ine frontal chest film to the diagnosis of the cause of acute fever in
pediatric patients younger than five years, Two groups of patients ag
ed zero to five years seen as outpatients for fever of less than two w
eeks' duration were studied, In 207 patients, fever was the only manif
estation (case group), whereas in 109 respiratory symptoms were also p
resent (control group), A physical evaluation and frontal plain chest
film were performed in each subject, Chest films showed abnormalities
suggesting a cause to the fever in 34 patients in the case group (16.4
%) versus 88 (80.7%) in the control group (p < 0.001). Bronchial and a
lveolar syndromes were the most common findings, The significant diffe
rence between the case and control groups was found across the age ran
ge studied, The prevalence of chest film abnormalities was nor correla
ted with the height or duration of fever. In conclusion, in children u
nder five with fever, a chest film should be obtained only if respirat
ory manifestations are present.