We aimed to determine the incidence, clinical consequences and microbiological findings related to the presence of pleural effusion in community-acquired pneumonia, and to identify predictive factors for empyema/complicated parapneumonic effusion. We analysed 4,715 consecutive patients with community-acquired pneumonia from two acute care hospitals. Patients were classified into three groups: n...

OBJECTIVE Surgical treatment of parapneumonic pleural effusion in children is controversial. The type of intervention is based mainly on personal experience and on the small number of reported cases. This article aims at presenting a literature review and the authorś experience in the surgical management of parapneumonic pleural effusion in children. SOURCES Data were searched in the Medline ...

A parapneumonic effusion is the collection of exudative fluid in the pleural space associated with a concurrent pulmonary infection. Parapneumonic effusions account for approximately one-third of all effusions, and about 40% of patients with pneumonia develop a concomitant effusion. Patients with pneumonia who develop an effusion have an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Some of the ex...

BACKGROUND Parapneumonic effusions complicating pneumonia are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. AIM To determine the role of the clinical, laboratory and radiographic features to the differential diagnosis of patients with community- acquired pneumonia (CAP) without effusion, uncomplicated parapneumonic effusion (UCPPE) and complicated parapneumonic effusion (CPPE). MATERIA...

Pleural effusion is a common complication of various diseases. Conventional methods are not always capable of establishing the cause of pleural effusion, so alternative tests are needed. The aim of this study was to explore means of discriminating between different pleural effusion groups, malignant, parapneumonic and tuberculous, based on the combined function of seven biological markers. Aden...

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...

parapneunomonic effusion is a common accompaniment of bacterial pneumonia and mostly is resolved with medical management. we studied the etiology and possible underlying causes of complicated parapneumonic effusion and timing of pulmonary decortication. a descriptive study on 34 patients with postpneumonic empyema which required decortication carried out. post surgical and post traumatic empyem...

introduction: the treatment of complicated parapneumonic effusion (ppe) and thoracic empyema (te) is controversial; and the choice of treatment after confirming the failure of simple drainage remains unclear. the purpose of this study was to compare the outcomes of intrapleural urokinase (uk) administration and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (vats) as initial treatment options for ppe and...

BACKGROUND Viridans streptococci (VS) are a large group of streptococcal bacteria that are causative agents of community-acquired respiratory tract infection. However, data regarding their clinical characteristics are limited. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical and radiologic features of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) with or without parapneumonic effusion caus...

CHEST, 68: 2, AUGUST, 1975 We, therefore, hypothesize that a low pleural fluid pH in a patient with a parapneumonic effusion indicates that the effusion is in the fibropurulent stage and that there are at least some loculi present which contain purulent material. Diagnostic thoracocentesis with measurement of pleural fluid pH should be performed on all patients with parapneumonic effusion. to e...