Case reportBismuth Paste Injection for Empyema Thoracis: A 100-Year-Old Method Revisited
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It is a common practice to insert a chest tube for drainage as the initial treatment for empyema thoracis, followed by an antibiotic therapy and aggressive respiratory physiotherapy with postural drainage. In some cases, decortication with pleurectomy or, rarely, thoracoplasty may be required as a more definitive treatment. A repeat surgical procedure is not uncommon. Reaccumulation of the pus into an unhealed pleural cavity will recur in many cases once the chest tube is removed.
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Image-Guided Palliative Care Procedures
2011, Surgical Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Standard surgical therapy, decortication, muscle/omental flap transposition (plombage), and thoracoplasty are all too morbid for frail patients. In cases of chronic empyema thoracis, bismuth paste plombage may be an effective treatment,119 but this does not treat the patient’s dyspnea. Alternatively, if the lung expands fully after thoracentesis, clinicians have the option of a long-term tunneled chest drain or chemical pleurodesis to prevent recurrence of the pleural effusion.