Local treatment of thoracic empyema with tri-tetracycline complexes.

In 13 patients with thoracic empyema of different origins, aqueous solutions of tri-metacycline or tridoxycycline were administered locally into the pleural cavity by puncture or through a drain-tube. Depending on the sensitivity of the causative agent, the former antibiotic was used in 12 cases and the latter in 1 only. The urinary output of the antibiotic was followed by chromatography. The local treatment cleared up the previously purulent exudate in 11 patients, while in the remaining two cases the efficacy of the therapy could not be evaluated.