PLEURAL BIOPSY IN EMPYEMA THORACIS PATIENTS: IS IT A USEFUL DIAGNOSTIC TOOL?

Objective: To look for tuberculosis as a cause of empyema as diagnosed by histopathology of pleural biopsy.Material and Methods: Twenty five consecutive admissions of empyema thoracis in Pulmonology department of PGMI, Lady Reading Hospital from January 2000 to June 2000 were included in the study. Closed pleural biopsy, under local anaesthesia, was taken with Abramʹs pleural biopsy needle.Results: There were 17 male and 08 female patients with the age range between 16 and 70 years. All patients were subjected to pleural fluid examination for culture and sensitivity and pleural biopsy. Two (08%) patients had sterile pus while (92%) grew organisms. The commonest organism isolated was Pseudomonas aeurogenosa (32%), followed by E.coli (20%), Staph, aureus (16%), Strep, pneumonae (08%) and H. influenzae (08%). The 02 (08%) patients with sterile pus showed chronic caseating granulomatous inflammation on pleural biopsy.Conclusion: Pleural biopsy serves as an important diagnostic tool in the management of empyema thoracis specially when pleural pus turns out sterile on culture and sensitivity.