Version 1
: Received: 9 October 2024 / Approved: 10 October 2024 / Online: 10 October 2024 (09:09:43 CEST)
How to cite:
Middelkamp, M.; Kania, M. M.; Groth, F. S.; Ricklefs, F. L.; Dührsen, L. Characterization of Disease Patterns in Children with Intracranial Abscesses for Enhanced Clinical Decision-Making. Preprints2024, 2024100746. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0746.v1
Middelkamp, M.; Kania, M. M.; Groth, F. S.; Ricklefs, F. L.; Dührsen, L. Characterization of Disease Patterns in Children with Intracranial Abscesses for Enhanced Clinical Decision-Making. Preprints 2024, 2024100746. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0746.v1
Middelkamp, M.; Kania, M. M.; Groth, F. S.; Ricklefs, F. L.; Dührsen, L. Characterization of Disease Patterns in Children with Intracranial Abscesses for Enhanced Clinical Decision-Making. Preprints2024, 2024100746. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0746.v1
APA Style
Middelkamp, M., Kania, M. M., Groth, F. S., Ricklefs, F. L., & Dührsen, L. (2024). Characterization of Disease Patterns in Children with Intracranial Abscesses for Enhanced Clinical Decision-Making. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0746.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Middelkamp, M., Franz L. Ricklefs and Lasse Dührsen. 2024 "Characterization of Disease Patterns in Children with Intracranial Abscesses for Enhanced Clinical Decision-Making" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.0746.v1
Abstract
Background: Intracranial suppurative infections in pediatric patients, while rare, pose a significant risk to patient mortality. Early recognition and fast initiation of diagnosis and treatment are crucial to prevent fatal outcomes. Between December 2022 and May 2023, a significant cluster of nine cases emerged, each necessitating neurosurgical intervention. This series highlights an important trend in clinical outcomes and raises questions about underlying factors contributing to this pattern. The need for surgical procedures in all instances suggests a commonality in severity, warranting further investigation into potential causes and preventative measures. This retrospective monocentric study aims to explore the clinical features associated with these cases to identify specific disease patterns that can expedite management in clinical practice.
Methods: Cramer’s V effect size was employed to evaluate combinations of clinical features, followed by Fisher’s exact test applied to a constructed contingency table. A p-value was assessed for significance analysis, with combinations achieving a Cramer’s V value of 0.7 or higher classified as exhibiting very strong correlations.
Results: The analysis revealed distinct patterns of clinical features among children diagnosed with intracranial abscesses. Significant associations were identified, including correlations between sinusitis and Streptococcus pyogenes, fever accompanied by affected temporal, frontal and frontobasal lobe regions.
Conclusions: Despite the generally limited statistical analysis of pediatric intracranial abscesses in the existing literature, this study provides meaningful significant associations between clinical features, delineating specific disease patterns. By addressing this gap, the findings contribute valuable insights and offer a framework that could enhance clinical decision-making and support timely disease management in pediatric cases.
Keywords
brain abscess; central nervous system infections; intracranial infection; pediatric neurosurgery
Subject
Medicine and Pharmacology, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
