Guidelines
Empyema/Parapneumonic Effusion

Empyema/Parapneumonic Effusion

Definitions

  • Free-flowing effusion that is sterile
  • Resolves with antibiotic therapy alone, without pleural space sequelae
  • Effusion that has been infected with bacteria or other micro-organisms
  • Requires pleural space drainage to resolve pleural sepsis and prevent progression to an empyema
  • Collection of pus within the pleural space
  • Can develop when pyogenic bacteria, fungi, parasites, or mycobacteria invade the pleural space, either from adjacent pneumonia or from direct inoculation (i.e. blunt trauma) or other source

Microbiology

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