Percutaneous tube drainage: the treatment of choice for refractory lung abscess

When the Missing Link Was a Drink: Missed Diagnosis of a Lung Mass Due to Limited History

A 24-year-old male patient presented with a two-month history of productive cough and hemoptysis. Chest imaging revealed a 3.2 cm cavitating lesion in the right lower lobe, initially suspected to be either an inflammatory mass, neoplasm, or aspergilloma. He underwent video-assisted thoracoscopy with a right lower lobectomy which revealed a 4.5 cm cavitary mass and lymphoid hyperplasia, consistent with aspiration lung abscess. Post-operatively, the patient experienced a persistent pneumothorax requiring extended monitoring and follow-up. Subsequently, the patient disclosed a history of recurrent binge drinking with episodes of unconsciousness, establishing the etiology as aspiration-related. The delayed identification of the alcohol use history contributed to a missed diagnosis of aspiration lung abscess. As a result, the patient was not treated with intravenous antibiotics, which might have obviated the need for a lobectomy and its attendant surgical risk. This report underscores the critical importance of allocating sufficient time and effort to obtain a thorough clinical history.

Percutaneous transthoracic catheter drainage for lung abscess: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the outcomes of patients receiving image-guided percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) for lung abscesses in terms of treatment success, major complications, and mortality as well as the predictors of those outcomes.

METHODS

Embase and OVID-MEDLINE databases were searched to identify studies on lung abscesses treated with PCD that had extractable outcomes. The outcomes were pooled using a random-intercept logistic regression model. Multivariate Firth's bias-reduced penalised-likelihood logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of treatment success and complications. Methodological quality was assessed by summing scores of binary responses to items regarding selection, ascertainment of exposure and outcome, causality of follow-up duration, and reporting.

RESULTS

From 26 studies with acceptable methodological quality (median score, 4; range, 3-5), 194 patients were included. The pooled rates of treatment success and major complications were 86.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 78.5-91.8%; I² = 23%) and 8.1% (95% CI, 4.1-15.3%; I² = 26%), respectively. Four patients eventually died from uncontrolled lung abscesses (pooled rate, 1.5%; 95% CI, 0.2-11.1%; I² = 36%). Malignancy-related abscess (odds ratio [OR], 0.129; 95% CI, 0.024-0.724; p = .022) and the occurrence of a major complication (OR, 0.065; 95% CI, 0.02-0.193; p < .001) were significant predictors of treatment failure. Traversing normal lung parenchyma was the only significant risk factor for major complications (OR, 27.69; 95% CI, 7.196-123.603; p < .001).

CONCLUSION

PCD under imaging guidance was effective for lung abscess treatment, with a low complication rate. Traversal of normal lung parenchyma was the sole risk factor for complications, and malignancy-related abscesses and the occurrence of major complications were predictors of treatment failure.

KEY POINTS

• The pooled treatment success rate of PCD for lung abscess was reasonably high (86.5%); malignancy-related abscesses and the occurrence of a major complication were predictors of treatment failure. • The pooled rate of percutaneous transthoracic catheter drainage-related major complications was 8.1% and traversing normal lung parenchyma by the catheter was the only risk factor. • The pooled mortality rate from uncontrolled lung abscesses with percutaneous transthoracic catheter drainage was low.

[Management of Lung Abscess - Diagnostics and Treatment]

Lung abscess is a localized infectious pus-filled cavity of the lung tissue by viral, bacterial, mycotic or parasitic pathogens. Currently, there are different classifications, which are based primarily on the genesis and duration of symptoms. Important steps for diagnosis are in addition to clinical examination, laboratory and chest X-ray especially bronchoscopy with microbiological examinations and computed tomography. Treatment of lung abscesses continues to be a domain of conservative antibiotic therapy. The vast majority of cases can be cured with this. Interventional procedures such as transthoracic or endobronchial abscess drainage with subsequent irrigation can effectively support the healing process. Thoracic surgery is particularly important in cases of failure of conservative and interventional therapy as well as secondary abscesses on the basis of a lung carcinoma. Mostly anatomical resections are required. Alternatively, VAC therapy (vacuum-assisted closure therapy) may be considered in seriously ill, old, immunosuppressed, and multimorbid patients with complicated abscesses (e.g. perforation in the pleural cavity and sero-pneumothorax).

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Radiologic Management of Infected Fluid Collections

Infected fluid collections are common and occur in a variety of clinical scenarios throughout the body. Minimally invasive image-guided management strategies for infected fluid collections are often preferred over more invasive options, given their low rate of complications and high rates of success. However, specific clinical scenarios, anatomic considerations, and prior or ongoing treatments must be considered when determining the optimal management strategy. As such, several common scenarios relating to infected fluid collections were developed using evidence-based guidelines for management. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed annually by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and revision include an extensive analysis of current medical literature from peer reviewed journals and the application of well-established methodologies (RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method and Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation or GRADE) to rate the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures for specific clinical scenarios. In those instances where evidence is lacking or equivocal, expert opinion may supplement the available evidence to recommend imaging or treatment.

Effective exchange to a larger size catheter for a lung abscess with initial percutaneous drainage failure: a case report

BACKGROUND

Percutaneous catheter drainage is an effective therapy for antibiotic-refractory lung abscesses. Pulmonary resection is usually considered in cases of drainage failure, although it remains controversial.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 42-year-old man with antibiotic-refractory lung abscess underwent percutaneous abscess drainage with a 10-Fr pigtail catheter. However, adequate evacuation of the abscess content was not achieved, and his respiratory condition worsened and he required a ventilator. To achieve and maintain effective drainage, insertion of a larger size 28-Fr catheter to replace the 10-Fr catheter was performed under general anesthesia and one-lung ventilation with a double-lumen tube to isolate the left lung. Exchange with a larger size catheter was effective and achieved adequate drainage. The procedure was performed safely by expanding the route of the old catheter as a guide for accessing the abscess cavity. His condition immediately improved and he was discharged on day 40 post-catheter exchange with no complications and cured with a small residual thin wall cavity.

CONCLUSIONS

Small size catheters are generally recommended for initial percutaneous drainage; however, we argue that exchange with larger size catheters should be primarily considered instead of pulmonary resection in cases of initial drainage failure. This may avoid the need for pulmonary resection.

Unusual case of a giant lung abscess initially misdiagnosed and treated as an empyema

We report the case of a 66-year-old man with dental infection who presented to our emergency department complaining of a 3-month medical history of chest pain and productive cough, in association with malaise, fever, weight loss and anaemia. His chest radiograph showed a nearly total opacification of the right hemithorax and chest ultrasound findings were suggestive of empyema, subsequently confirmed by a chest CT. The patient started appropriate treatment. A follow-up chest CT performed to rule out bronchopleural fistula revealed a large lung abscess. The patient had the final diagnosis of a giant lung abscess, which was initially thought to be an empyema because of the clinical and radiologic similarities with this entity. The initial misdiagnosis led to prompt percutaneous drainage of the lung abscess in addition to antibiotherapy and respiratory physiotherapy with a good final outcome, which suggests the efficacy of this approach in similar cases.

An update on the drainage of pyogenic lung abscesses

Most lung abscesses (80-90%) are now successfully treated with antibiotics; however, this conservative approach may occasionally fail. When medical treatment fails, pulmonary resection is usually advised. Alternatively, percutaneous transthoracic tube drainage or endoscopic drainage can be considered, though both remain controversial. In this communication, the medical literature focusing on percutaneous tube drainage efficacy, indications, techniques, complications, and mortality, as well as available data regarding endoscopic drainage are reviewed.

[Lung abscess and necrotizing pneumonia: chest tube insertion or surgery?]

Lung abscesses and necrotizing pneumonia are rare complications of community-acquired pneumonia since the advent of antibiotics. Their management leans first of all on the antibiotic treatment adapted on the informed germs. However, in 11 to 20% of the cases of lung abscesses, this treatment is insufficient, and drainage, either endoscopic or percutaneous, must be envisaged. In first intention, we shall go to less invasive techniques: endoscopic or percutaneous radio-controlled. In case of failure of these techniques, a percutaneous surgical drainage by minithoracotomy will be performed. In the necrotizing pneumonia, because of the joint obstruction of the bronchus and blood vessels corresponding to a lung segment, the systemic antibiotic treatment will be poor effective. In case of failure of this one we shall propose, a percutaneous surgical drainage, especially if the necrosis limits itself to a single lobe. The surgical treatment will be reserved: in the failures of the strategy of surgical drainage, in the necroses extending in several lobes.

Transient occlusion procedure with a catheter for peripheral pulmonary artery damage caused by percutaneous drainage for lung abscess

The patient was a 78-year-old man who had liver and lung abscesses. Percutaneous drainage was performed for the lung abscess. While the drainage was successful for both abscesses, a drainage tube injured the peripheral pulmonary artery, causing hemorrhage and hemosputum. An occlusion technique for the pulmonary basal artery using a wedged barman catheter stopped the bleeding, resulting in a successful outcome.

Imaging guided thoracic interventions

Interventional Radiology is a technique based medical specialty, using all available imaging modalities (fluoroscopy, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, angiography) for guidance of interventional techniques for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Actual, percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy includes core needle biopsy besides fine needle aspiration. Any pleural, pulmonary or mediastinal fluid or gas collection is amenable to percutaneous pulmonary catheter drainage. Treatment of haemoptysis of the bronchial artery or pulmonary artery origin, transcatheter embolization of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations and pseudoaneurysms, angioplasty and stenting of the superior vena caval system and percutaneous foreign body retrieval are well established routine procedures, precluding unnecessary surgery. These techniques are safe and effective in experienced hands. Computed tomography is helpful in pre- and postoperative imaging of patients being considered for endobronchial stenting. Many procedures can be performed on an outpatient basis, thus increasing the cost-effectiveness of radiologically guided interventions in the thorax.

Factors predicting mortality of patients with lung abscess

BACKGROUND

The rates of morbidity and mortality associated with lung abscess are still significant despite the introduction of antibiotic treatments. The aim of this work was to identify the factors that predict a poor outcome for patients with lung abscess.

METHODS

We retrospectively reviewed the records and the roentgenographic files of adult patients with lung abscess who were hospitalized from 1980 to 1996 at the Hadassah University Hospital, in Jerusalem, Israel.

RESULTS

The study population comprised 75 patients, and the mean age was 52 years old (range, 12 to 89 years). The mean (+/- SD) hospitalization duration was 25.7+/-21.5 days (range, 5 to 94 days). Fifteen patients (20%) succumbed to the infection. The patients who died had more predisposing factors (+/-SD), such as pneumonia, neoplasm, and altered consciousness, than those who survived, respectively: 2.73+/-1.4 vs 1.9+/-1.3 (p < 0.03). The patients with anemia on admission (hemoglobin levels of < 10 g/dL) had a higher mortality rate than those with higher hemoglobin levels, respectively: 58.3 vs 12.9% (p = 0.0008). A higher mortality rate was also associated with infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (83%), Staphylococcus aureus (50%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (44%). The patients who died had larger abscess volumes (+/-SD) than those who survived (233+/-99 vs 157+/-33 mL), although it did not reach statistical significance. The diameter of the abscess correlated with the hospitalization time (r = 0.5; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

High rates of morbidity and mortality are associated with lung abscess despite appropriate antibiotic therapy and better supportive care. In patients with several predisposing factors, such as a large abscess size and a right-lower-lobe location, the prognosis was worse. The patients infected with S aureus, K pneumoniae, and particularly P aeruginosa had an ominous prognosis. As the prognosis for lung abscess has not improved sufficiently since the introduction of antibiotics, other modalities should be considered for patients with poor prognostic signs.

MANAGEMENT OF LUNG ABSCESS WITH PERCUTANEOUS CATHETER DRAINAGE

Percutaneous catheter drainage was used to treat 12 among 34 cases of lung abscesses, who were refractory to medical therapy, severely ill and high risk cases for surgery. A complete clinical and radiological recovery was achieved in all the cases who underwent catheter drainage, thereby obviating the need for surgery. None of the cases had catheter or procedures related complications. From this study it is inferred that percutaneous transthoracic catheter drainage is a safe and an effective modality of therapy for patients with lung abscess in whom medical therapy has failed and those who are unsuitable for surgery.

Interventional chest radiology

Radiologically guided percutaneous drainage procedures are commonly performed to manage a variety of intrathoracic collections. As a natural extension of similar procedures performed for abdominal and pelvic collections, these procedures use both the conventional and cross-sectional imaging modalities to detect intrathoracic collections and to guide safe percutaneous diagnostic aspiration and drainage. The high-resolution images obtainable on current computed tomographic and ultrasound units allow detection of lung abscesses, empyemas, malignant effusions, and infected mediastinal fluid collections that are amenable to percutaneous drainage. Advances in catheter design and introduction techniques have allowed drainage of collections previously managed by open procedures. The ease of fluoroscopically guided catheter placement for treatment of spontaneous or biopsy-induced pneumothorax has provided a safe, effective, and comfortable alternative to blind large-bore surgical tube placement. Transthoracic needle biopsy of lung, mediastinal, and pleural or chest-wall masses has resulted from the availability of image intensifiers and cross-sectional imaging modalities useful in guiding needle placement and tissue sampling. Equally important has been the development of cytopathology as a subspecialty that can provide diagnoses of malignant and benign thoracic conditions from needle aspirates. This technique has had a major impact on the preoperative evaluation of the patient with a solitary pulmonary nodule and has eliminated unnecessary surgery in a significant percentage of such patients. Transcatheter arterial embolization has made a significant contribution to the management of the patient with massive hemoptysis and is the procedure of choice for treatment of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations. A thorough knowledge of the vascular anatomy of the thorax and expertise in catheterization and embolization techniques are prerequisites for the safe performance of these procedures.

Percutaneous abscess and fluid drainage: a critical review

Pertinent radiologic and surgical literature regarding abscess drainage was reviewed. Noted is the heterogeneity of disorders categorized as abscesses, and the variety of therapeutic approaches presently available. Specific abscesses are discussed based on body location and/or associated organ system.

Percutaneous drainage of lung abscess

Most lung abscesses are successfully treated with antibiotics. However, occasional patients with lung abscesses that drain poorly, causing persistent fever and toxic symptoms, may require surgical intervention. Lobectomy is the most frequent surgical procedure. Some patients are debilitated and have underlying medical conditions such as heart disease, chronic pulmonary disease, or liver disease that may render surgical intervention risky. Recently there have been reports of percutaneous drainage of lung abscess with good results. We have successfully carried out percutaneous drainage of lung abscess in 4 patients and an infected bulla in 1. All patients had failed to respond to therapy with antibiotics and postural drainage. There was prompt disappearance of the fluid level in the cavity, decline in temperature, and abatement of toxic symptoms with drainage. The cavities closed gradually over the next 6-12 weeks. The patients tolerated the chest tube well and there were no side effects from the tube drainage. Percutaneous tube drainage is the surgical treatment of choice in the medically complicated patient with a poorly draining lung abscess.

Radiologically controlled drainage of pleural and pulmonary collections

Radiologically controlled catheter drainage is now accepted therapy for fluid collections in many parts of the body. While this is performed mainly in the abdomen, the chest is increasingly being drained percutaneously as an alternative to surgical drainage (van Sonnenberg et al 1984; Westcott 1985; O'Moore et al 1987; Crouch et al 1987). This report outlines the experience with 31 chest collections treated by the intervention radiologist over a two-year period.

Tube drainage of lung abscesses

We treated 14 patients who had complicated lung abscesses (all over 4 cm in diameter); 9 patients had concomitant respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. A percutaneous tube was inserted in 11 patients (3 subsequently underwent rib resection) and 3 underwent rib resection with operative insertion of the tube. The resultant bronchopleural fistulas did not interfere with respiratory management despite the use of mechanical ventilation, and only 2 patients required subsequent surgical closure. Eleven patients were discharged from the hospital. Complications were minimal and consisted of 2 episodes of hemorrhage, 1 during operative debridement of the abscess and 1 delayed. Both complications were managed successfully. Three patients died in the hospital, only 1 from complications of the lung abscess. We have concluded from this review that tube drainage can be safe, simple, and efficacious. We recommend it for the treatment of complicated lung abscesses even when associated with respiratory failure and mechanical ventilatory support.

Percutaneous small bore catheter drainage in the management of lung abscesses

For patients with pyogenic lung abscesses who do not respond to medical therapy, thoracotomy with pulmonary resection is the widely-accepted treatment of choice. Six patients with lung abscess who failed to respond to conservative medical management were treated by percutaneous catheter drainage using small catheters (10 Fr or smaller). Five patients showed prompt clinical improvement and the sixth improved after a modification in antibiotic therapy. All patients recovered with radiographic resolution of the abscess and were well at followup periods from two months to two years. In such patients, percutaneous drainage with small catheters provides an excellent clinical result with minimal risk and trauma.