Empyema Treatment Outcomes and Dental Evaluation

This study included 63 patients hospitalized for empyema treatment between January 2017 and July 2022 at Kakogawa Central City Hospital. Light’s classification was used to diagnose empyema [18 (link)]. In brief, 1) aspiration of grossly purulent material on thoracentesis and 2) at least one of the following: a) thoracentesis fluid with a positive Gram stain or culture, b) pleural fluid glucose <40 mg/dL, c) pH <7.2, or d)- lactate dehydrogenase >1000 IU/L [18 (link)]. The exclusion criteria were as follows: patients under 20 years old, those who did not undergo pleural puncture for some reason, those who did not wish to participate after the publication of this study, and those with missing data that were needed in this study. Patients with confirmed empyema underwent various tests such as blood tests, and were treated with antibiotics and chest tube drainage. They also underwent dental examinations, including panoramic dental radiography and oral photography, within days after hospitalization and dental treatments, if needed, during hospitalization.
This study was performed in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of Kakogawa Central City Hospital (Authorization number: 2020–46). The ethics committee approved the study and gave administrative permissions to access the data used in this study. As this was a retrospective study, the research plan was published on the homepage of the hospital according to the instructions of the IRB in accordance with the guaranteed opt-out opportunity.