title: Ultrasonography in the diagnosis and management of empyema of the thorax.
abstract: Ultrasonic examination is useful to detect and localize empyema within the thoracic cavity in order to perform fine-needle aspiration. In six cases in which we used these procedures no complications were detected. Three of them are presented to illustrate the usefulness of ultrasonographically guided fine-needle aspiration of thoracic empyema in the clinical management of such patients. Ultrasonography provides a safe and rapid method for early detection and diagnosis of thoracic empyema so that appropriate therapy may be initiated.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D004653:Empyema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013396:Suction / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography