Navira Javaid, Muhammad Saleem, Naeem Liaqat.
Comparison of incision and drainage of superficial skin abscesses with and without packing in pediatric population.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;12(4):1713-5.

Background: Following incision and drainage of any abscess most common practice is to pack the cavity. However, it is a painful experience particularly during daily change of dressing. Aim : To compare the need for an intervention with packing versus no packing after incision and drainage of superficial skin abscesses in pediatric patients. Methods : The study was a randomized control trial done at Department of Pediatric Surgery, The Children Hospital, Lahore. We did it from June 2017 to December 2017. Then patients were allocated two separate groups. In group P, patients had undergone I& D with packing. In group NP patients had undergone I and D of abscesses without packing and a sterile gauze and tape was used to dress the wound. Patients were discharged and were followed up after 48 hours to be assessed for need of intervention. All data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results : We included 440 patients in our study. In the study mean age of the patients was 8.11+/-4.39 months; the mean size of abscess of the patients was 2.49+/-1.23 cm. The further fluctuation at wound site was found in 156 (35.5%) cases and persistent fever was noted in 182 (41.4%) cases. Statistically there was insignificant difference found in outcome between these study groups with and without packing in terms of the need of interventions i.e. p-value=0.206 . Conclusions: Our study results concluded that there was no statistical difference between with packing and without packing after incision and drainage of superficial skin abscesses in pediatric patients. So we recommend that following incision and drainage there is no need of packing of wound in children.

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