[A case of chronic hemorrhagic pyothorax treated by extraperiosteal air plombage method]

Abstract

A 64-year-old female patient was admitted with severe exertional dypnea. She had undergone left pneumonectomy because of lung tuberculosis at the age of 31. Her chest X-ray showed total opacity of the left hemithorax and mediastinal deviation to the right. The examination of the pleural effusion revealed neither malignant cells nor micro-organisms. She underwent surgery, by extraperiosteal air plombage method, successfully. Five months after the operation, her lung function and chest X-ray improved dramatically and exertional dyspnea was diminished. We conclude that the extraperiosteal air plombage method is a useful technique for patients with chronic hemorrhagic pyothorax.