Objective: To review the literature about mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment of atelectasis in the pediatric patient.
Methods: An electronic data search was carried out in Medline and Scielo using the following inclusion criteria for articles published between 1960 and 2007 about: atelectasis etiology, physiopathology, functional consequences, evaluation, prevention, treatment and complications, in pediatrics. The used key words were atelectasis, children, pediatrics, mucus plugs, chest physiotherapy;
Results: 45 pulmonary atelectasis articles were analyzed, 17 of them in pediatrics. Of the pediatric, 13 were case series, 3 literature reviews and one a case report. This demonstrates that there were few articles on atelectasis during the reviewed period and that these articles were at the D and E evidence level.
Conclusion: No clinical trials were performed to identify s the most efficient treatment for atelectasis in the pediatric patient. Although clinical practice for treatment of atelectasis has evolved, mostly due to improvement of bronchoscopy and chest physiotherapy techniques, there is still a need to perform randomized clinical trials to address treatment of atelectasis in the pediatric patient.