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Ann Thorac Surg 1986;41:85-88
© 1986 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Articles

Empyema Thoracis and Infected Pneumonectomy Space: Case for Cyclical Irrigation

From the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, England

Accepted for publication February 27, 1985.

^* Address reprint requests to Mr. Hakim, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Papworth Hospital, Papworth Everard, Cambridge CB3 8RE, England

Between January, 1974, and July, 1984, 63 cases of pleural empyema were treated at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge. Twenty-one of these patients had cyclical irrigation of the empyema cavity, and 23 patients underwent decortication. The two groups were comparable in age and sex distribution. There was no significant difference in the duration of empyema between the two groups (7 and 10.4 weeks for the patients having irrigation and decortication, respectively) (p > 0.05). There was no correlation between the duration of empyema and the length of hospital stay in either group (r = 0.007 and 0.005 for the irrigation and decortication groups, respectively). However, both the mean duration of tube drainage (7 and 13.5 days) and the length of hospital stay (12.3 and 17.3 days) were significantly shorter in the irrigation than in the decortication group (p < 0.01). There were two failures in the decortication group and three in the irrigation group. Cyclical irrigation was also used in 4 patients with infected pneumonectomy space with satisfactory results. We conclude that cyclical irrigation is an effective, simple, and time-saving technique that does not preclude the use of other procedures if it fails.

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