title: Amplatzer device and vacuum-assisted closure therapy to treat a thoracic empyema with bronchopleural fistula.
abstract: We present a case of lower bilobectomy complicated by a large bronchopleural fistula and empyema 1 month after primary surgery. The patient was immediately treated with an open window thoracostomy. After surgical debridement, an Amplatzer Septal Occluder device (AGA Medical Corp, Plymouth, MN) was positioned to close the fistula. Thereafter, the thoracostomy rapidly and spontaneously closed with vacuum-assisted closure therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Humanitas Gavazzeni Hospital, Bergamo, Italy. eliseo.passera@gavazzeni.it
authors.forename: Eliseo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Passera
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guanella
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meroni
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chiesa
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rizzi
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rocco
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000368:Aged; D001983:Bronchial Fistula / Q000601:surgery*; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D003646:Debridement / Q000379:methods; D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000601:surgery*; D005402:Fistula / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D054843:Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010995:Pleural Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D055989:Septal Occluder Device; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000601:surgery*; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D013907:Thoracostomy / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed