TY  - JOUR
T1  - AIr-tight intercostal drainge of acute empyema
AU  - ALEXANDER J
Y1  - 1929/06/01
N1  - 10.1001/jama.1929.02700480008004
JO  - Journal of the American Medical Association
SP  - 1818
EP  - 1821
VL  - 92
IS  - 22
N2  - That acute empyema is a grave disease requiring expert management is apparent to those who see the disastrous early and late results that often follow the older methods of treatment which were conceived in ignorance of the pathologic anatomy and physiology of the disease.It takes from one to three weeks from the beginning of the pleural infection for tough adhesions to form between the visceral and parietal pleurae at the limits of the empyemic abscess. If a portion of a rib is resected within this period, air is given access to the pleural cavity and the elastic lung contracts and pulls away from the thoracic walls beyond the limits of the empyema. As a result, the infection that was probably localized to only a portion of the pleural cavity spreads throughout the pleural cavity, and a tremendously large empyema is substituted for a localized, or localizing, one. Further, open
SN  - 0002-9955
M3  - doi: 10.1001/jama.1929.02700480008004
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1929.02700480008004
ER  -