title: Lung function in patients operated for chronic pleural empyema.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate lung function after lung decortication in patients operated for chronic pleural empyema.
  
  
  METHODS
  To determine the lung function after lung decortication in 20 men (71.4%) and 8 women (28.6%) a prospective evaluation of blood gases, spirometry, lung perfusion, ventilation, and alveolar permeability were performed 28 weeks (15-60 weeks) after the operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median lung perfusion on the affected side was 45.2% (26.1-55.3%) in 13 right and 36% (13.8-47.2%) in 15 left empyemas, and was within normal limits in 4/28 cases. The mean lung ventilation was 44.4% (21.5-54%) and 37% (18.9-50.6%) in patients affected on the right or left side, respectively. Ventilation perfusion inequality occurred in 22 patients (78.6%). Dynamic ventilation scintigraphy revealed impairment of epithelial integrity in 10 cases (35.7%). Individual analysis revealed that 15 patients (53.6%) showed a severe reduction in one of the examinations and 8 (28.6%) in more than one.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the separate analysis of the different functional parameters revealed a mild reduction of lung function after decortication, in the majority of patients the impairment was more severe due to multilevel functional lung damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland. wrzyman@amg.gda.pl
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rzyman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skokowski
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Romanowicz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lass
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murawski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taraszewska
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dziadziuszko
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004562:Electrocardiography; D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008176:Lung Volume Measurements; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013147:Spirometry; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome