Successful closure of an open-window thoracostomy wound by negative-pressure wound therapy: report of a case

Abstract

Negative-pressure wound therapy is a newly developed, noninvasive technique to manage a wide variety of wounds. This novel therapy was successfully used to heal the wound after open-window thoracostomy without surgical closure. A 46-year-old woman was admitted to hospital because of a painful mass on the right side of her chest. Radiological findings revealed an abscess on the right chest wall that had ruptured into the right lung and caused empyema. Antibiotic therapy did not yield sufficient improvement. Open-window thoracostomy was performed to achieve a sterile pleural space, and negative-pressure wound therapy was then applied. The pleural space was reduced, and the patient was discharged home with self-administered wound care. The wound healed completely in 5 months without any need for surgical closure.

Streptococcus intermedius Brain Abscess with Lung Abscess and Aortic Valve Endocarditis: A Case Report and Literature Review

“…We reviewed the available medical literature by PubMed with the keywords “ Streptococcus intermedius ” AND “lung abscess”, “pleural effusion” and “pleural empyema” from 1993 to 2023, published in English. We found 34 articles meeting the inclusion criteria ( Table 2 ), of which 4 described concomitant brain and lung abscesses, but none reported the presence of lung and brain abscesses due to S. intermedius associated with left sided endocarditis [ 1 , 2 , 8 , 9 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. Only one paper [ 8 ] described the case of a lung and brain abscess associated with Chiari network endocarditis in the right heart.…”

Riboto piopneumotorakso gydymas vakuumine žaizdų gydymo sistema

“…The main advantages of VAC are obliteration of the dead space among tissue layers and the stimulation of angiogenesis caused by a negative pressure [11,12], thus resulting in a faster healing and a lower risk of reinfection. The first report of intrapleural VAC therapy was published in 2006, and there is a constantly growing number of reports showing VAC advantages in the treatment of pleural empyema [7,9,[13][14][15]. In this case, VAC was considered only after the bronchopleural fistula had closed because the persisting fistula creates an air leak and dehermetizes the space.…”

Progress in chest wall surgery

“…The chest wall infection is complicated and the treatment is very difficult. The most important development in recent years is the application of negative pressure wound therapy [54,55] . A large number of clinical experience shows that this is an effective treatment or adjuvant treatment.…”