Medicine Grand Rounds, Patricia Rivera and Jason Akulian “Empyema Thoracis: Diagnostic Challenges and New Insights into an Old Disease”

This lecture will review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, microbiology and morbidity and mortality of thoracic empyema. Two cases will be used as examples to highlight pitfalls in the diagnosis of empyema. The role of non-invasive studies including thoracic ultrasound and the approach to pleural drainage and interpleural therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and DNase will be discussed.

Patricia Rivera specializes in the care of patients with lung cancer, immunocompromised hosts, lung screen screening, novel approaches for early detection of lung cancer in high-risk patients, chemotherapy and radiation-induced pneumonitis. She is a professor in the division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine.

Jason Akulian is an assistant professor and Director of Interventional Pulmonology. His specialty areas are interventional bronchoscopy and pleural disease.

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