INTRODUCTION Pleural empyema is the most serious, life-threatening postoperative complication of pneumonectomy, observed after 1-12% of all pneumonectomies, with bronchopleural fistula being its main cause. AIM The aim of this publication is to present early outcomes of minimally invasive surgical management of pleural empyema. Patients were subjected to a single, complex procedure, consistin...

The response of the fibrinolytic system to inflammatory mediators in empyema and complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions is still uncertain. We prospectively analysed 100 patients with pleural effusion: 25 with empyema or complicated parapneumonic effusion, 22 with tuberculous effusion, 28 with malignant effusion and 25 with transudate effusion. Inflammatory mediators, tumour necrosis facto...

conclusions if medical treatment gets started early in the course of empyema, prognosis would be excellent. besides, there was no significant difference in short- and long-term outcomes between medical or surgical interventions. objectives the aim of this study was to compare the duration of admission, duration of intravenous antibiotic therapy, time to response to treatment, and outcomes of me...

Few diseases conform so seldom to their classical book diagnosis as empyema or purulent pleurisy in its various types. If even the majority of cases showed consecutive layers from below upwards on one side of the chest, of dullness with absent breath sounds and increased vocal resonance and fretnitus, aegophony, and then tubular breathing, with displacement of the heart to the opposite side, th...

117 South Korea has the highest prevalence of tuberculosis among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations [1], despite the management of pulmonary tuberculosis with antituberculosis drugs. Therefore, South Korea also has a relatively high prevalence of tuberculous empyema, a complication of tuberculosis that accounts for 3%–6% of all cases of empyema [2]. A chronic, act...

BACKGROUND Clinical spectrum, microbiology and outcome of empyema thoracis are changing. Intrapleural instillation of fibrinolytic agents is being increasingly used for management of empyema thoracis. The present study was carried out to describe the clinical profile and outcome of patients with empyema thoracis including those with chronic empyema and to study the efficacy and safety of intrap...