Abstract
Empyema thoracis, from the Greek, is defined simply as “pus in the pleural cavity.” Causes are multifactorial, although the majority results from bacterial pneumonia with subsequent parapneumonic effusion. With conservative estimates of nearly one million patients hospitalized with pneumonia annually, of which 20–40% develop a parapneumonic effusion, and a further 5–10% develop empyema, empyema represents a substantial healthcare burden. With annual estimates of nearly 80,000 patients, a mortality of 10–20%, and an associated in-hospital cost of nearly 66,000 per hospitalization, this healthcare burden rapidly translates a major societal burden.
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Shore, D., Toth, J.W. (2023). Empyema Thoracis. In: Díaz-Jiménez, J.P., Rodríguez, A.N. (eds) Interventions in Pulmonary Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22610-6_32
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