Thoracic empyema: a five-year experience at Queens Hospital Center.

A retrospective analysis of 48 cases of thoracic empyema is presented along with a management protocol, which includes empiric antibiotic therapy or combinations thereof and an aggressive primary surgical procedure that results in minimal morbidity and mortality. In this series, there were eight deaths (16.6%). The contributing etiologic agents, however, have shifted from traditional causes, such as posttonsillectomy, postdental extractions, and bronchiectasis, to stupor caused by excessive alcoholism and drug addiction, also involving direct access through injectables into the cardiovascular system.