Surgical decortication as the first-line treatment for pleural empyema

Objective The study objective was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of surgical decortication as the first line of treatment for pleural empyema. Methods We analyzed the medical records of 111 patients who presented with empyema and were treated with simple drainage or surgical decortication as the first line of treatment at Gangnam Severance Hospital, a tertiary referral medical center in Seoul, Korea. Results Of 111 patients with empyema, 27 underwent surgical decortication as the first intervention. Surgical decortication showed a better treatment success rate in all study subjects (96.3%, 26/27 patients) compared with simple drainage (58.3%, 49/84 patients; P