title: Empyema thoracis from an inhaled peanut.
abstract: A 77-year-old man with a history of pulmonary sarcoidosis was referred with persistent cough and reduced air entry on auscultation of the right lung base. He was an ex-smoker with a 40-pack-year history and his general practitioner was concerned about the possibility of bronchogenic carcinoma. A chest radiograph showed a right-sided pleural effusion with right mid-zone airspace opacification. Bronchoscopy revealed a peanut covered in mucus lodged in the right lower lobe bronchus. CT of the thorax demonstrated a multiloculated right pleural effusion with associated compressive atelectasis, consistent with chronic empyema. A chest drain was inserted but failed to fully clear the collection and the patient proceeded to a thoracoscopic decortication of a pleural empyema secondary to the right lower lobe obstruction from an inhaled peanut. His postoperative recovery was uncomplicated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Linehan
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hinchion
authors.forename: Terence M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D010367:Arachis; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016724:Empyema, Pleural / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011015:Pneumonia, Aspiration / Q000150:complications*; D011859:Radiography