[Surgical treatment of chronic pleural empyema--seven years' experience]

During a 7 years period a total of 112 patients with chronic pleural empyema were operated on. There were 92 male and 20 female with mean age of 48.4 years. The mean duration of empyema clinical manifestation up to the operation was 59 days. Pleurectomy and decortication were carried out in 99 patients and in the other 5 cases they were associated with pulmonary resection. Additional thoracoplasty was necessary in only 7 patients. Rethoracotomy for hemostasis was performed in 5 (5.6%) patients. The overall postoperative mortality was 5.6%. The mean hospital stay after pleurectomy and decortication was 13 days and after the thoracoplasty it was 19 days. The follow-up period was 6 months for 84 (75%) and 12 months for 70 (62%) of the patients. No disease relapse was observed. Pulmonary function was improved after 3 to 6 months in the majority (89%) of the patients. Fully recovered working capacity was found in 44% of the patients.