decortication of lung empyema education material

Decortication education

1. Brief overview/Education

2. Background 1 million patients are hospitalized in the United States each year with pneumonia. 20% to 40% parapneumonic effusion 5% to 10% of these parapneumonic effusions to empyema 32,000 patients per year 15 percent mortality

3. Decortication Well-known procedure Delorme first performed to treat empyema in 1895  It is primarily indicated in cases of chronic empyema thoracis Favorable outcomes have been shown by Shin et al, when decortication was adopted as the first-line treatment for empyema. Main aims of this surgical procedure are the restoration of lung expansion, removing the source of infection, and preventing deformity due to fibrothorax.

4. Technique

5. Complications