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Local Anesthetic Thoracoscopy for Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion
Published on: November 10, 2023
Treatment of infection associated with tunneled pleural catheters
Kamran Mahmood1, Charles Bower
1*Department of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care †Department of Radiology, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
Abstract:
Chronic indwelling tunneled pleural catheters are increasingly used for the treatment of malignant pleural effusions. Some common complications of these catheters include empyema and local site infection. Empyema is generally treated with the removal of the pleural catheter and the administration of systemic antibiotics. We propose a different and more conservative but effective method of the treatment of infected tunneled pleural catheters.
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