[Various clinical and roentgenological aspects of diagnosis of postoperative empyema in pulmonary surgery].

The results of a 10-year follow-up of 101 patients with pyothorax that developed after operations on the lungs, bronchi, and trachea (5.4% of all patients who underwent operation) show a stable fever of 38 degrees C and higher, pain in the chest, leucocytosis, and a shift of the peripheral blood leucocyte count to the left to be the most constant clinical signs of suppuration of the pleura in the postoperative period. Experience convinces the authors that the initial radiological signs of pyothorax are early fragmentation of the pleural cavity after pneumonectomy and a rigid residual pleural cavity after partial lung resection. Computed tomography complements the classical radiological examination and is conductive to timely diagnosis and successful treatment of postoperative pyothorax.