Abstract
Background. The treatment of acute empyema in adult patients becomes difficult when acute empyema develops into chronic empyema. Surgery for debridement and decortication is recommended in early phase. Purpose. We report our experience with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for acute empyema. Materials and Methods. We reviewed 14 cases of acute empyema which underwent VATS debridement and decortication in our hospital between April, 2003 and October, 2005. The surgical procedure was mainly to consolidate several empyema cavities into a single space, to remove gelatinous pleural fluid and debride as much as possible and to place three drainage tubes for good drainage and irrigation. Results. The mean duration of preoperative symptoms, postoperative drainage and postoperative hospital stay was 17 days(range, 4 to 59 days), 46 days(range, 14 to 188 days)and 58 days (range, 18 to 188 days). Ten of the 14 were cured or improved. Four cases died of other causes. Conclusion. VATS is a safe and effective procedure for acute empyema. Early intervention to treat acute empyema can get better results.
