Empyema thoracis: a ten-year experience

Over a ten-year period, 50 patients with thoracic empyema have been treated at the Metropolitan Nashville General Hospital, where a systematic, stepwise approach to the management of empyema has been followed. The initial step was thoracentesis; if this failed to resolve the empyema, dependent thoracostomy tube drainage was used. Closed thoracostomy drainage was converted to open drainage when closed drainage failed to obliterate the empyema cavity. When all other measures failed, thoracotomy with pleural decortication was done. Of the 27 patients who had empyema as a consequence of pneumonia, most (14) were successfully treated with open empyema tube drainage, though five required decortication. Eight of the ten posttraumatic empyemas resolved with open drainage, but pleural decortication was necessary in the remaining two cases. Nine patients had postoperative empyemas; six were managed with open drainage, and three resolved with closed thoracostomy drainage. Of the four remaining empyemas, two resolved with closed drainage and two required open drainage. Treatment was successful in 85% of cases, with six deaths (15%). This experience with empyema shows that early, staged surgical management is successful in most cases. In our experience, the causative organism had no bearing on outcome. Resolution of the condition was possible only after adequate drainage and obliteration of the empyema space was accomplished.