The effectiveness of video-assisted thoracoscopic sanitation of the pleural cavity in combination with local proteolytic therapy in children with acute pleural empyema

Abstract

BACKGROUND: A positive experience of the local applicationof proteolytic enzymes for treating purulent-inflammatory processes of various localizations has motivated the researchers to study this challenging topic and to assess the effectiveness of proteolytic enzymes in combination with video thoracoscopic sanitation and ultrasonic cavitation of the lungs and pleural cavity in children with acute pleural empyema. AIM: To assess the effectiveness of complex treatment of acute pleural empyema in children. METHODS: In 2020–2022, 26 children, aged 1–17 (15 boys, 57.7% and 11 girls, 42.3%), were under observation. All children were operated on for video thoracoscopic sanitation of the pleural cavity and ultrasonic cavitation of the lungs and pleural cavity. Patients were divided into two groups: main group — 12 (46.2%) children who were injected proteolytic enzymes into their pleural cavity intraoperatively and at the postoperative period; control group — 14 (53.8%) children who had no any proteolytic enzyme injections. The developed technique (Method for the treatment of acute pleural empyema in children, Patent RU2770663) was used at the surgical intervention. RESULTS: The results obtained by the identified criteria have shown that proteolytic enzymes applied perioperatively is an effective technique what was confirmed by X-ray findings: fibrinothorax regression in the main group occurred earlier than in the control group by (2±0.4) days. CONCLUSION: Thus, we consider that proteolytic enzymes used intraoperatively and at the early postoperative period in combination with video thoracoscopic sanitation and ultrasound cavitation of the lungs and pleural cavity is a promising and effective method for treating acute pleural empyema and can be recommended for implementation into clinical practice.