Current surgical therapy for patients with tuberculous abscess of the chest wall.
BACKGROUND
Although anti-tuberculosis medication is essential for the treatment of tuberculous abscess of the chest wall, surgical treatment also plays an important role. We report our surgical experience for patients with tuberculous abscess of the chest wall.


METHODS
The series was comprised of 16 patients with tuberculous abscess of the chest wall, and they were treated from May 1996 to June 2003 at St. Vincent's Hospital, Suwon, Korea. The data were retrospectively reviewed.


RESULTS
Tuberculous abscesses were managed by combined anti-tuberculosis medication and surgery of either abscess excision with rib resection (11 abscesses) or abscess excision alone (7 abscesses). The overall rate of rib involvement for abscess was 44.4 % (8 abscesses in 7 patients), and the rate of rib involvement was not much different according to the extent of the chest wall involvement. The incidence of performing a second surgical procedure was higher in the following groups: (1) the group with pathologic evidence of bone involvement (3 of 7 patients vs 1 of 9 patients), (2) the group that was not given preoperative anti-tuberculosis medication (4 of 7 patients vs none of 9 patients).


CONCLUSIONS
In managing tuberculous abscess of the chest wall, extensive abscess excision with rib resection is considered to be important. Preoperative anti-tuberculosis medication may play an important role in reducing the postoperative complication, including abscess recurrence.
Department of Thoracic Surgery, St. Vincent's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. kyudias@cvnet.co.kr
Kyu Do
KD
Cho
Deog Gon
DG
Cho
Min Seop
MS
Jo
Myeong Im
MI
Ahn
Chan Beom
CB
Park
D000038:Abscess / Q000601:surgery*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D035441:Thoracic Wall; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000601:surgery*