[Determination of likelihood of the development of pleural empyema in patients with cancer after pneumonectomy].

Management of 150 patients with lung cancer after pneumonectomy has shown that the basic factors causing the onset of postoperative pleural empyema are chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases, pronounced obstructive syndrome and right heart overload, tumor histology, local tumor size and cancer complications, duration and techniques of surgery, duration of controlled lung ventilation, as well as the onset of postoperative suppurative tracheobronchitis and surgical wound suppuration. The likelihood of empyema development may be assessed only upon analysis of the combination of risk factors with reference to their low informative value, preoperative patients' condition and intraoperative factors which have an equal impact on the onset of this complication. The efficacy of the algorithm elaborated is as follows: if the likelihood of empyema development exceeds 50%, it occurs in 96.3% of cases, if the likelihood of the complication is less than 10%, the postoperative period is uncomplicated in 87.8% of patients.