After unsuccessful treatment with intercostal tube drainage and antibiotics intrapleural streptokinase was used to treat successfully an empyema in a man with AIDS and advanced cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma who was unfit for surgical decortication. The role of this technique in the management of HIV positive patients with empyema is discussed.

A 2 mm Teflon catheter was used as a chest tube in 28 patients with iatrogenic pneumothorax. Frequent aspirations through the catheter were performed in 16 of the patients. In the remaining 12 patients the catheter was connected to a one way flutter valve. The treatment was successful in 27 of the 28 patients--one patient required a large calibre chest tube. The mean drainage time was 48 hours....

BACKGROUND Significant morbidity and mortality result from the ineffective evacuation of empyema. Failure of conventional first line treatment with closed intercostal tube drainage and antibiotic therapy may result in fibrin deposition and loculated empyema. Enzymatic debridement using intrapleural instillation of streptokinase is a non-invasive therapeutic option which may obviate the need for...

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE WORK Recent studies have shown that video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) is safe and beneficial as first time treatment for patients presenting with primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP). In this study we will compare the outcome of patients presenting with first time PSP treated by VATS with those treated conservatively. MATERIAL AND METHODS This was a prospective do...

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...

Turpentine is a volatile hydrocarbon used in polishes, solvents, paints and textile industry. When hydrocarbons are aspirated into the lung, they cause chemical pneumonitis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and rarely pneumatoceles and pneumothorax. We report a 20-year old boy with turpentine-induced chemical pneumonitis that evolved into a bronchopleural fistula. He was treated with...

Bronchial rupture is a rare and serious complication of blunt chest trauma, which can be easily overlooked on initial evaluation in the emergency room (ER) as the focus of the attending physician is diverted to more obvious external injuries which may not be of much significance. We present one such patient referred to us as a case of unresolved right-sided pneumothorax 2 days after intercostal...

over the whole of the hepatic area was swollen, red and shining, and distinct fluctuation was detected. The patient's low condition contra-indicated any severe or prolonged operation; so I contented myself with puncturing the fifth intercostal space, and drew off three pints of offensivesmelling pus, mixed with debris of hepatic tissue through an aspirator needle. She became very prostrate from...