A retrospective analysis was conducted on preoperative imaging diagnoses in 48 patients with pleural empyema, aged 50.31±18.75 years on average. The study spanned from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2022, at the Clinic of Thoracic Surgery and the Department of General and Operative Surgery, Medical University of Varna. Of the participants, 37 were males with an average age of 49.00±18.84 years, and 11 were females with an average age of 54.73±20.25 years. Positive findings were identified in all patients through thoracic computed tomography, chest x-ray, and pleural echography examinations. Chest x-rays were performed in 45 patients (93.75%), computed tomography in 39 patients (81.25%), and echography was used in addition to these methods for 18 patients (37.50% of cases). These contemporary imaging techniques demonstrate an impressive preoperative diagnostic value in patients with pleural empyema.
Arnold DT, Hamilton FW, Morris TT, Suri T, Morley A, Frost V, et al. Epidemiology of pleural empyema in English hospitals and the impact of influenza. Eur Respir J. 2021;57(6):2003546. doi: 10.1183/13993003.03546-2020.
Bobbio A, Bouam S, Frenkiel J, Zarca K, Fournel L, Canny E, et al. Epidemiology and prognostic factors of pleural empyema. Thorax. 2021;76(11):1117-1123.
Garvia V, Paul M. Empyema. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island, StatPearls Publishing, 2023.
Hara K, Yamasaki K, Tahara M, Ikegami H, Nishida C, Muramutsu K, et al. Epidemiologic evaluation of pleurisy diagnosed by surgical pleural biopsy using data from a nationwide administrative database. Thorac Cancer. 2022;13(8):1136-1142.
Konietzke P, Mueller J, Wuennemann F, Wagner WL, Schenk JP, Alrajab A, et al. The value of chest magnetic resonance imaging compared to chest radiographs with and without additional lung ultrasound in children with complicated pneumonia. PLoS One. 2020;15(3):e0230252. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230252.
Liao WC, Lin CL, Shen TC, Tu CY Hsia TC, Hsu WH. Risk of pleural empyema in adult patients with asthma: a nationwide retrospective cohort study. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022;9:851573. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.851573.
Sexauer R, Stieltjes B, Bremerich J, D’Antonoli TA, Schmidt N. Considerations on baseline generation for imaging AI studies illustrated on the CT-based prediction of empyema and outcome assessment. J Imaging. 2022;8(3):50. doi: 10.3390/jimaging8030050.
Shekhar H, Sharma N, Singh SK, Garg PK, Bhatt S, Saha R, et al. Clinico-radiological profile of the patients with empyema thoracis: a prospective analytical study. Indian J Tuberc. 2021;68(4):491-496.
Shen KR, Bribriesco A, Crabtree T, Denlinger C, Eby J, Eiken P, et al. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery consensus guidelines for the management of empyema. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2017;153(6):e129-e146.
Shiroshita A, Kimura Y, Yamada A, Shirakawa C, Yue C, Suzuki H, et al. Prognostic value of computed tomography in empyema: a multicenter retrospective cohort study. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 Jan 23. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202210-868OC.
Sodhi KS, Bhatia A, Nichat V, Mathew JL, Saxena AK, Samujh R, et al. Chest MRI as an emerging modality in the evaluation of empyema in children with specific indications: Pilot study. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2021;56(8):2668-2675.
Sorg AL, Obermeier V, Liese JG, von Kries R. Incidence trends of parapneumonic pleural effusions/empyema in children 2009 to 2018 from health insurance data: Only temporal reduction after the introduction of PCV13. Vaccine. 2021;39(26):3516-3519.
Wang T, Du G, Fang L, Bai Y, Liu Z, Wang L. Value of ultrasonography in determining the nature of pleural effusion: analysis of 582 cases. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022;101(33):e30119. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000030119.
Yucel S, Aycicek T, Ceyhan Bilgici M, Dincer OS, Tomak L. 3 Tesla MRI in diagnosis and follow up of children with pneumonia. Clin Imaging. 2021;79:213-218.
Zettinig D, D’Antonoli TA, Wilder-Smith A, Bremerich J, Roth JA, Sexauer R. Diagnostic accuracy of imaging findings in pleural empyema: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Imaging. 2021;8(1):3. doi: 10.3390/jimaging8010003.
