Background Patients with secondary pneumothoraces generally have serious comorbid disease and poor pulmonary function and require that treatment be individualized. Though interventional treatments such as tube thoracostomy and pleurodesis are to be selected first, some cases become obstinate. Even though VATS treatment is attempted ultimately, sometimes it turned out to be inadequate for stapli...

Our study shows the different therapeutic procedures in 64 patients with pleural effusion due to MRSA pneumonia. The thoracostomy tube associated with pleural washing was decisive in 10 simple effusion patients. Video-assisted thoracic surgery allowed a complete resolution of the disease in 22 complex parapneumonic effusion patients. In 20 of 32 patients with frank pus in the pleural cavity, th...

Fifty cases (36 dogs and 14 cats) with a confirmed diagnosis of pyothorax were evaluated from five referral institutions in the UK and Ireland. Aetiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of all cases were examined. The underlying cause of pyothorax was determined in 18 per cent of cases. Positive bacteriological cultures of the pleural fluid were obtained in 68.7 per cen...

Of the many body systems adversely affected by severe anorexia nervosa (AN), the pulmonary system is relatively spared. However, in the face of severe malnutrition of AN, the lung may undergo architectural changes that adversely affect its integrity and healing capacity. We report herein a case of a pneumothorax in a patient with severe AN, in which standard approaches to manage the pneumothora...

Late complications of collapse therapy generally present as pyogenic, caseous, or mycotic empyema’4 at the site of the previous pneumothorax. Hemorrhagic effusion associated with pleural malignant change has been reported. To our knowledge, extrapleural hematoma without malignancy has not yet been described. Our patient’s medical history excluded external violence or traumatic thoracentesis. Al...

Bile leaks after T-tube removal are a frequent cause of morbidity in orthotopic liver transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to determine factors that predict the development of these leaks in liver transplant recipients. Records of all patients who had undergone liver transplantation at the University of Washington Medical Center between January 1990 and September 1993 were reviewed....