The diagnosis and management of pleural empyema.

Journal article

The diagnosis and management of pleural infection continues to improve steadily. Recent advances include: newer, smaller, and more comfortable chest drainage catheters; improved pleural pus drainage with the aid of intrapleural fibrinolytics; and improved surgical procedures including thoracoscopic surgery. The optimal size of chest drainage tube remains a matter of debate, with no large data sets available to clarify the optimal tube size. In contrast, there are now small controlled trials of sound basic methodology which suggest a therapeutic role for both fibrinolytics and thoracoscopy. Studies large enough to establish clearly the efficacy and safety of these approaches are now at the planning and recruitment stage.

Authors: Davies, R; Gleeson, F

• Journal: Current opinion in pulmonary medicine
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 185-190
• Publication date: 1998-05-01
• EISSN: 1531-6971
• ISSN: 1070-5287
• Language: English
• Keywords: Prognosis; Thoracoscopy; Empyema, Pleural; Drainage; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Biopsy, Needle; Treatment Outcome; Combined Modality Therapy; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Humans