Thoracomyoplasty in the Treatment of Empyema: Current Indications, Basic Principles, and Results

Autor: Petre Vlah-Horea Botianu, Alexandru Mihail Botianu
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Zdroj: Pulmonary Medicine, Vol 2012 (2012)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2090-1836
2090-1844
DOI: 10.1155/2012/418514
Popis: 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.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals