Striffeler H, Ris H B, Würsten H U, Hof V I, Stirnemann P, Althaus U
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland.
Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 1994;8(11):585-8. doi: 10.1016/1010-7940(94)90040-x.
Pleural empyema is a disease which is not always recognized. Despite consecutive treatment and antibiotics its mortality rate is still high, especially in older patients with concomitant disease or in the case of delayed treatment. We report our experience with early video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery of pleural empyema in 13 patients, where chest tube drainage had failed. The clinical symptoms of empyema did not exceed 14 days, bacteriologic cultures were positive in 62%. In all patients the fever disappeared within 1 to 5 days (mean 3.5) post-operatively and they remained in hospital for an average of 11.5 days after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Pulmonary function tests 6 months later revealed normal values without a substantial loss of lung volumes. No relapse of empyema occurred.
胸膜脓胸是一种并非总能被识别的疾病。尽管进行了连续治疗和使用了抗生素，但其死亡率仍然很高，尤其是在伴有其他疾病的老年患者中或治疗延迟的情况下。我们报告了13例胸腔闭式引流失败后早期行电视辅助胸腔镜手术治疗胸膜脓胸的经验。脓胸的临床症状持续不超过14天，细菌培养阳性率为62%。所有患者术后1至5天（平均3.5天）内发热消失，电视辅助胸腔镜手术后平均住院11.5天。6个月后的肺功能测试显示各项指标正常，肺容积无明显减少。脓胸无复发。
