The treatment of tuberculous empyema still remains a major therapeutic problem in tuberculosis. In recent years, the use of antibiotics and pleural lavages have undoubtedly improved the prognosis of uncomplicated tuberculous empyemata; however, when a broncho-pleural fistula with subsequent mixed infection empyema is present, major thoracic intervention will still be the only way to obtain a co...

Hepatobiliary conditions should be considered in the differential diagnosis of right pleural effusion. Here we present the illustrative images of thoracic empyema due to migrated gallstones in a woman who was treated for laparoscopic cholecystectomy one year before. The gallstones were obtained unexpectedly during a thoracentesis with aid of an Abrams needle. This rare complication is discussed...

REPORT OF A CASE By R. A. PYPER, M.D., M.R.C.P.(LOND.) Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. TIHORACIC aCtinonimycosis, a comparatively unicommon coniditioni, miay -arise by direct inhalation of the inifectinig organism, by metastatic spread from a focus elsewhere, or by infiltration through the cesophagus. It may present as a broncho-pneumonia or as a lung abscess; it may closely simulate pulmonar...

We present the case of a 74 year-old male with delayed diagnosis of post-traumatic thoracic esophageal perforation that occurred secondary to thoracic vertebral fracture in an ankylosed spine. The injury resulted after a fall from chair secondary to an unconscious collapse due to Ventricular Fibrillation (VF). At 8 days after the injury, the patient was diagnosed with esophageal perforation, se...

Design: We have retrospectively reviewed the charts of all HIV-infected patients with a hospital discharge diagnosis of empyema between January 1985 and November 1993. Patients: Twenty-three patients were identified (22 male and 1 female). The average patient age was 28.7±5.3 years. All the patients were injection-drug users, and 10 (43%) fulfilled criteria for an AIDS diagnosis. In 15 cases (6...

Empyema toracis can be defined as a purulent pleural effusion. From 1998 to 2003 we treated 106 patients (87 men and 19 women), aged between 23 and 82 years, affected by localized empyema toracis. All of them received initially a chest tube and 73 of them (60 men and 13 women), in combination with selected antibiotics, had an uneventful recovery. Twenty three patients (17 men and 5 women) under...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the results of thoracoscopy for the treatment of pleural empyema in pediatric patients. METHODS A retrospective study of 117 patients who underwent mediastinoscopy or video-assisted thoracoscopy for pleural empyema treatment. General anesthesia and single-lumen oral intubation were used. Surgery was indicated when there was pleural effusion and no clinical and radiologic...

Indications for thoracic surgery in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are principally represented by pleural diseases including pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and empyema and by parenchymal lung diseases including bronchiectasis, hemoptysis, and pulmonary abscess. Moreover, lung transplantation has proved a viable therapeutic option for progressive respiratory failure due to end-stage CF. Mai...

Thoracic oesophageal perforation, a life-threatening condition, is a therapeutic challenge. A 20 year old male developed a lower oesophageal perforation following an abdominal cardiomyotomy for achalasia of the lower oesophagus. The resulting suppurative mediastinitis and left empyema thoracis were treated by decortication. The oesophageal perforation was closed using a transposition pedicle le...