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Updated: May 21, 2026

Local Anesthetic Thoracoscopy for Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion
Published on: November 10, 2023
Thoracomyoplasty in the treatment of empyema: current indications, basic principles, and results
Petre Vlah-Horea Botianu1, Alexandru Mihail Botianu
1Surgical Clinic 4, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Târgu Mures, Gh. Marinescu 66/1, Târgu Mures, Romania.
Abstract:
Empyema remains a challenge for modern medicine. Cases not amenable to lung decortication are particularly difficult to treat, requiring prolonged hospitalizations and mutilating procedures. This paper presents the current role of thoracomyoplasty procedures, which allow complete and definitive obliteration of the infected pleural space by a combination of thoracoplasty and the use of neighbourhood muscle flaps (latissimus dorsi, serratus anterior, pectoralis, rectus abdominis, omentum, etc). Recent publications show an overall rate of success of 90%, with a quick and definitive healing. Although rarely indicated in our days, this kind of procedures remain in the armamentarium of modern thoracic surgery. The importance of thoracomyoplasty derives from the fact that it may be a simple and definitive solution for complicated cases of chronic empyema not amenable to standard decortication.
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