What is it about?
Although several studies have reported VATS for acute empyema, there is not ample evidence of indication and efficiency of VATS. Our study was made to clarify the clinical utility of VATS for acute empyema retrospectively. Subjects were consecutive 39 cases who underwent VATS for acute empyema at the Jikei University Katsushika Medical Center and the Jikei University Hospital from January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2017.
Featured Image
Photo by JAFAR AHMED on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Thirty-seven cases (94.9%) improved with initial or second VATS treatment, and they had no recurrence of empyema during observation period after VATS (mean observation period after surgery: 35.3 months). Two unsuccessful cases are as follows; one died of acute respiratory failure with chronic progressive pulmonary aspergillosis on the sixth postoperative day, and the other case in the organizing phase required a fenestration after second VATS because of a failure of re-expansion of the lung and uncontrollable infection. We concluded that VATS is a useful procedure having advantages in efficacy and safety for acute empyema, especially in the fibrinopurulent stage.
Perspectives
Writing this article was a great pleasure as it has co-authors with whom I have had long standing collaborations. I hope this article lead to further improve the outcome of thoracoscopic surgery for acute empyema.
HIDEKI MATSUDAIRA
jikei university school of medicine
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery(VATS) for acute empyema: evaluation of our experience with 39 cases, September 2019, European Respiratory Society (ERS),
DOI: 10.1183/13993003.congress-2019.pa1080.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
