Empyema Thoracis: An Increasing Incidence with New Recognized Pathogen

Empyema Thoracis

Epmyema thoracis is associated with high mortality ranging between 6% to 24%. The incidence of empyema is increasing in both children and adults; the cause of this surge is unknown. Most cases of empyema complicate community- or hospital-acquired pneumonia but a proportion results from iatrogenic causes or develops without pneumonia. Parapneumonic effusions (PPE) develop in about one half of th...

Empyema thoracis: new insights into an old disease.

Pleural infection is a disease of historical importance and is still a modern menace, with incidences rising in adults and children, and a significant mortality in adults. Basic research is hampered by limitations with in vivo models, and the bacteriology of empyema is complex. The role of thoracic ultrasound in guiding investigation and drainage of empyema is clear. Prompt treatment with appro...

Empyema thoracis: management outcome.

BACKGROUND Empyema thoracis results from postpneumonic effusion of bacterial origin or trauma. If untreated it may convert to fibro-purulent or an organising stage. METHODS This study was conducted at cardiothoracic unit of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad from Jan 2008 to Aug 2009. Patients with diagnosis of empyema thoracic were studied. Their clinical features and investigations were reco...

Treatment of empyema thoracis.

An unusual cause of empyema thoracis.

The second observation was the error made in calculating the positive predictive value. By deÞ nition, positive predictive value is “the probability that a person actually has the disease given that he or she tests positive”.[2] In the paper under discussion, the disease was represented by VZV ELISA positives (as the gold standard) and the test was represented by “recalled history of chicken po...