Is it necessary to check pneumonia in children?

Most people with pneumonia blindly go to the hospital for a lot of tests. Some of the tests done by some hospitals may be useless. However, because many people do not understand what tests are for pneumonia, they blindly trust doctors. So today, the expert will tell you what tests are for pneumonia:

1. Routine blood test

This is the most commonly used examination method, which includes the total white blood cell count and the percentage of various white blood cells in the total white blood cell count. The total white blood cell count of a normal person is 4~10×109/L, and the percentage of neutrophils is less than 70%. If the total white blood cell count exceeds 10×109/L and the percentage of neutrophils exceeds 70%, we say that the patient's blood count is high, which is a common blood count change in bacterial pneumonia.

2. Arterial blood gas analysis

The partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide may decrease. However, in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide may increase due to poor alveolar ventilation.

3. Chest X-ray examination

By giving the patient an X-ray chest film examination, we can directly understand the changes in the lungs, which is an important means of diagnosing pneumonia. Although pneumonia can be diagnosed through blood counts and X-ray chest films, the above two examinations cannot tell us what pathogen caused the pneumonia, whether it is caused by bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma, fungi, etc., and what type of bacteria it is. We can only reasonably take the patient's sputum and blood for culture to possibly find out the pathogen. Doctors can then use drugs that are sensitive to pathogens for targeted treatment.

Blood routine, chest X-ray and sputum examination are the most basic examinations for patients with pneumonia. In addition, there is chest CT examination (medically known as electronic computer tomography). However, if the patient has repeated pneumonia in the same part or there are other suspicious lesions on the chest X-ray, and it is difficult to make a clear diagnosis with general examinations, chest CT examination or other further examinations are required.

Through the introduction of experts, everyone now basically understands what items are included in the pneumonia examination and what those items can show. I hope everyone can go to the hospital for examination, but don't blindly trust the doctor and blindly do some optional examinations. This not only wastes treatment time, but also damages your own funds.