Clinical Outcome and Risk Factors for Emergency Department Adult Patients with Thoracic Empyema after Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgical Procedure

Background: Empyema is a purulent infection of the pleural cavity that is most relevant to parapneumonia effusion. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is an option for stage 2 (fibrinopurulent) and stage 3 (organizational). Surgeons may see critically ill patients with pleural empyema who present to the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this work is to investigate the outcomes of ED adult patients with thoracic empyema undergoing a thoracoscopic surgical procedure and to identify possible risk factors for death. Methods: We reviewed retrospectively the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with thoracic empyema who received this diagnosis at our center from January 2012 to June 2014. Patients