Medical thoracoscopy: effective, cheap and safe for empyema

[摘要] I read with interest the article “Empyema after image-guided percutaneous intercostal drainage of subdiaphragmatic collection: a case series” by Zwicky et al. (1). I would like to highlight a point regarding management of empyema. In this case series all the patients were managed surgically—either open thoracotomy or VATS (video assisted thoracoscopic surgery). But sonographic grade II patients have been shown to be effectively managed with medical thoracoscopy (2,3). Also a systematic review concluded that Medical thoracoscopy is an effective tool for empyema management and success rates can be further potentiated by post thoracoscopic intrapleural fibrinolytics (4).

[学科分类] 呼吸医学