XXXX thoracis. Therapeutic management and outcome.

@entity1 @entity4327 @entity3509 @entity167
STUDY OBJECTIVE: We evaluated treatment and outcome of @entity1 with @entity4327 at a teaching institution. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective chart review over a 44-month period at a university hospital. @entity1 AND MEASUREMENTS: Charts of @entity1 with a hospital discharge diagnosis of @entity4327 were reviewed. Age, symptoms, @entity167 use, @entity3509 etiology, culture results, number of loculations, date and success of each procedure, length of hospital stay, and hospital discharge status were recorded for each @entity1 . Success of procedure, recovery time, time between procedures, and total hospitalization time were compared between procedures and between subgroups. RESULTS: Charts from 43 @entity1 were reviewed. Twenty-four of 43 (56%) cases were @entity3509 . Forty of 43 (93%) @entity1 had symptoms attributable to their @entity3509 , with fever being the most common (65%). Seventy-nine procedures were needed to treat the 43 @entity1 (1.84 procedures per @entity1 ). Success rates ranged from 11% (3/27) for tube thoracostomy to 95% (21/22) for decortication (p = 0.0001). Delay between procedures averaged 6.2 +/- 1.1 (mean +/- SEM) days between the first and second procedure (n = 27), and 10.4 +/- 5.1 days between the second and third procedure (n = 8). Mean recovery after successful intervention ranged from 9 to 19.3 days depending on the procedure (p = NS). Comparisons between multiloculated and uniloculated empyemas, @entity3509 , and culture proven and biochemically proven empyemas showed no significant difference in procedure success rates or length of hospital stay. CONCLUSION: Multiple therapeutic options exist for the treatment of @entity4327 . Optimal therapy requires selection of the most appropriate first procedure for each @entity1 with early postprocedure imaging to avoid inordinate delays between interventions.
