Characteristics, management and changing incidence of children with empyema in a paediatric intensive care unit.

In children with empyema in PICU 62% required ventilation, 16% had features of shock and 63% received VATS. Empyema admissions, as a proportion of all PICU admissions, increased in the era post-PCV13 compared to pre-PCV13 despite no increase in illness severity at admission.