title: A dedicated prosthesis for open thoracostomy.
abstract: Due to our dissatisfaction with the mutilation caused by the skin-lined open thoracostomy, we have developed a dedicated prosthesis that is expected to avoid or to substitute for the classic operation. The prosthesis is a corrugated silicone tube with an oval flange at one end (to fix it internally) and a mobile ring on the other (to fix it externally). It is inserted at the bottom of the empyematic cavity after 3 cm of a rib is removed. We have used it in 20 patients whose empyema was secondary to pneumonia (12) or complications of pneumonectomy (4), lobectomy (2), decortication (1), or pleuroscopy (1). Six of those patients have already been cured and their prosthesis removed after 54 to 305 days. In 1 with a persistent postpneumonectomy bronchopleural fistula the device was removed after 299 days and the patient was submitted to a limited thoracoplasty. Six other patients still have unresolved cavities and have been using the prosthesis for 63 to 302 days. Seven patients died of their underlying disease (bilateral pneumonia, 2; acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, 2; mesothelioma, 1; heart failure and pulmonary embolism, 1; unknown, 1) after using the prosthesis for 11 to 160 days. In those patients from whom the prosthesis already has been removed, the scar looks like those commonly seen after removal of an ordinary chest tube. Based on these early favorable results we feel most encouraged to persist in this research. Nevertheless, we are aware that a larger number of patients and a longer follow-up will be necessary before we may make definitive recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardio-Pneumology, Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Filomeno
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de Campos
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.forename: E de C
authors.initials: Ede C
authors.lastname: Werebe
authors.forename: F B
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Jatene
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Leirner
mesh_terms: D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D013907:Thoracostomy