Uniportal thoracoscopic surgery for difficult late stage empyema: Case series

Abstract

Early, aggressive, and minimally invasive approach is an advanced surgical approach for chronic empyema management. The traditional video-assisted technique is considered superior over open thoracotomy for empyema management; however, with further modification, the uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (UVATS) has greater advantage for surgeons, providing better anatomical view of target tissues, allowing bimanual instrumentation similar to open approach, and nullifying the creation of dihedral angle by instruments that are not favorable in traditional VATS. The present case series describes different clinical scenarios including chronic empyema secondary to traumatic hemothorax, recurrent tubercular empyema following postoperative open decortication, and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus chronic empyema in pediatric patient, which are effectively managed with UVATS approach.