Abstract
An 81-year-old man who had undergone a left lung resection for primary lung cancer and lung aspergillosis, presented to an emergent room of our hospital with loss of consciousness. He was diagnosed with right tension pneumothorax. After emergent chest drainage he recovered conscious. Two days after the onset of pneumothorax, high fever occurred and the pleural effusion from the chest tube became turbid. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was detected from the pleural effusion and he was diagnosed with acute empyema. He improved with antibiotics and thoracoscopic drainage. Pneumothorax sometimes induces acute empyema one week after the onset. Our case is rare because it took only two days from the onset of pneumothorax to the development of empyema.
