Idiopathic lipoid pneumonia findings in chest high resolution computed tomography. A case report.

adjusted antibiotic treatment, when possible, and surgical drainage are crucial. Drainage is required to evacuate the accumulated pus and to sterilize and close the pleural cavity, thus allowing good pulmonary mobility. Different procedures may be employed, such as closed drainage systems by tube thoracostomy, or partial costectomy, or open systems, such as open thoracostomy with the creation of a pleurocutaneous fistula that allows drainage without a tube. The timing of these treatments is not standardized, but the intravenous antibiotic should be maintained for a week and then oral treatment should be continued for 1–3 weeks, depending on the patient’s clinical response.5 With the combination of both treatments, a high cure rate is achieved with a low mortality rate (less than 5%); death, if it occurs, is usually secondary to the confluence of several mechanisms. such as respiratory failure, heart failure, mediastinitis, hematogenous spread or renal failure.1