Abstract

MACHAIN, Gustavo Miguel et al. Surgical management of empyema through Pleural Decortication in patients of the Clínica´s hospital by the Department of Thoracic Surgery (2016-2019). An. Fac. Cienc. Méd. (Asunción) [online]. 2021, vol.54, n.1, pp.77-82. ISSN 1816-8949.  https://doi.org/10.18004/anales/2021.054.01.77.

Empyema is a collection of purulent fluid in the pleural space. The most common cause is pneumonia. Treatment options include therapeutic thoracentesis, drainage catheter placement, fibrinolytic therapy, pleurodesis, and surgery, such as pleural decortication. Pleural drainage is effective in stage I and surgery is reserved for complicated cases (stages II and III). In these cases, pulmonary decortication is necessary. Currently, the most favored approach to decortication is by open thoracotomy. This is an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study, with a non-probabilistic sampling of consecutive cases that had as the accessible population, patients with the diagnosis of empyema in whom pleural decortication was performed at the Clinica´s Hospital of San Lorenzo, by the Department of Thoracic Surgery during the period from March 2016 to February 2019. A total of 24 patients with the diagnosis of empyema underwent pleural decortication. The most frequent aetiology of empyema (75%) was parapneumonic effusion. Post-surgical complications were present in 9 (37.5%) patients, of these, 4 (17%) presented air leakage during the first postoperative days. Complete resolution of the condition was verified in 21 (87.5%) patients and 3 (12.5%) patients presented residual pleural collection. Recurrence was found in 1 (4%) patient, requiring reoperation. In conclusion, the casuistry of our thoracic department coincides in terms of international values of complications, resolution and mortality.

Keywords : empyema; decotication; complications..

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