Predisposing factors :
Clinical Feature
Fever, cough, dyspnea, pleuritic chest pain & malaise.
Decreased breath sounds , dullness to percussion, decreased tactile fremitus or frictional rub
Rales or ronchi may be heard if there is a pulmonary infection.
Diagnosis
And atleast one of the following
Positive gram stain or culture
Pleural fluid glucose <40 mg /dl
pH< 7.1 or LDH > 1000 IU/L
Treatment
Analgesic
Piperacillin tazobactam , vancomycin if MRSA is suspected.
Chest tube thoracostomy
Intrapleural fibrinolytic agent may be used in fibropurulent stage like streptokinase or urokinase.
Decortication to be considered if above are ineffective.
Updated on1/2 /2012
Reference