Empyema (also called Empyema – pleural; Pyothorax; Pleurisy – purulent) is a collection of pus in the cavity between the lung and the membrane that surrounds it (pleural space). Caused by an infection that spreads from the lung and leads to an accumulation of pus in the pleural space, the infected fluid can build up to a quantity of a pint or more, which puts pressure on the lungs, causing shortness of breath and pain.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Without treatment, empyema can progress through three stages:
Stage 1: Simple empyema
Also called exudative phase. It occurs when extra fluid begins to build up in the pleural cavity. This fluid can become infected and may contain pus.
Stage 2: Complicated empyema
Another name for this stage is the fibrinopurulent phase. The fluid in the pleural cavity begins to thicken and form “pockets.”
Stage 3: Frank empyema
Finally, the infected fluid causes scarring on the inner layers of the lungs. This causes difficulty breathing, as it keeps the lungs from inflating properly. Another name for this stage is the organizing phase.
Empyema causes
Pneumonia is the most common cause of empyema. Anyone who has undergone chest surgery may also have a risk of empyema if bacteria enter the wound.
Risk factors
The main risk factor for empyema is recent pneumonia. Others include:
- Being older than 70.
- Having a recent hospital stay.
- Having had chest surgery or trauma.
In low-risk populations, empyema is generally less severe more likely to develop outside of a hospital.
People with the following conditions are also more likely to develop empyema.
- Diabetes.
- Heart disease.
- Previous cancer.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.
- Lung disease.
- Intravenous drug use may also be a risk factor for simple empyema.
Symptoms
- Chest pain, which worsens when patient breathe in deeply (pleurisy).
- Dry cough.
- Excessive sweating, especially night sweats.
- Fever and chills.
- General discomfort, uneasiness, fatigue or ill feeling (malaise).
- A crackling sound in the chest.
- Decreased breathing sounds.
- A dull sound when tapping chest.
- Weight loss (unintentional).
Diagnosis
The health care provider may note decreased breath sounds or an abnormal sound (friction rub) when listening to the chest (auscultation).
Tests that may be ordered include:
- Chest x-ray, though it can only show a certain amount of fluid in the pleural cavity.
- Ultrasounds (US) are more sensitive and so better able to show any extra fluid in the area.
- CT scan of chest can show pockets of liquid in the pleural cavity.
- Thoracentesis.
- Pleural fluid analysis.
Allopathic treatment for Empyema
The goal of allopathic treatment is to cure the infection. This involves the following:
- Placing a tube in patient’s chest to drain the pus.
- Giving antibiotics to control the infection, antibiotics are the first treatment for simple empyema. Because different strains of bacteria may be responsible, finding the right antibiotic is crucial. The treatment typically takes 2–6 weeks.
Draining the fluid is essential to prevent simple empyema from progressing. It also helps keep the condition under control.
To drain the fluid, a doctor performs a tube thoracostomy, which involves inserting an ultrasound- or computer-guided tube into the chest cavity and removing the liquid from the pleural space.
If patient have problems breathing, he/she may need surgery to help patient lung expand properly.
Surgery for Empyema
For advanced cases, surgery may be the best treatment option. One study found that a procedure called decortication yielded better results than tube drainage in patients with advanced empyema. Decortication involves removing the pus pockets and fibrous tissue from the pleural space, which helps the lungs expand.
For draining the fluid, there are two options. In most cases, a surgeon performs a video-assisted thoracotomy (VATS), which is less invasive than the alternative.
The other option is an open thoracotomy, which requires a surgeon to open the chest. There are no specific criteria that guide the choice of procedure.
The patients who had experienced empyema symptoms for less than 4 weeks had better results from surgery than those who had experienced the symptoms for longer.
Fibrinolytic therapy
A doctor may also recommend taking drugs called fibrinolytic agents to drain pleural fluid, in combination with a tube thoracostomy.
Assessed the effectiveness of VATS surgery, compared with fibrinolytic therapy, after tube thoracostomy, both methods were highly effective.
Prognosis with allopathic treatment
When empyema complicates pneumonia, the risk for permanent lung damage and death goes up. Long-term treatment with antibiotics and drainage are needed. In general, most people fully recover from empyema.
Side effects of antibiotics could cause other complication, inform your patients before starting the treatment.
Homeopathic Treatment for Empyema
Homeopathic treat for empyema, any stage and type are very effective and of short duration with 100% success rate. There are many good medicines in Homeopathy for empyema, here I’ll explain very few of them:
Agaricus Muscarius
Violent attacks of coughing that can be suppressed by effort of will, worse eating, pain in head while cough lasts. Spasmodic cough at night after falling asleep, with expectoration of little balls of mucus. Labored, oppressed breathing. Cough ends in a sneeze.
Pain, with sensitiveness of spine to touch; worse in dorsal region. Lumbago; worse in open air. Crick in back. Twitching of cervical muscles. Very sensitive to cool air. Violent attacks of heat in evening. Copious sweat. Burning spots.
Ipecacuanha
Dyspnea, constant constriction in chest. Asthma. Yearly attacks of difficult shortness of breathing. Continued sneezing; coryza; wheezing cough. Cough incessant and violent, with every breath. Chest seems full of phlegm, but does not yield to coughing. Bubbling rales. Suffocative cough; child becomes stiff, and blue in the face. Whooping-cough, with nosebleed, and from mouth. Bleeding from lungs, with nausea; feeling of constriction; rattling cough. Croup. Hemoptysis from slightest exertion. Hoarseness, especially at end of a cold. Complete aphonia.
Calcarea Sulph
Cystic tumors. Fibroids. Suppurative processes. Abscess. Pneumonia. Cough, with purulent and sinuous sputa and hectic fever. Empyema, pus forming in the lungs or pleural cavities. Purulent, sinuous expectoration. Catarrh, with thick, lumpy, white-yellow or pus-like secretion.
Lobela Inflata
Is a Vaso-motor stimulant; spends its force mainly upon the pneumogastric nerve, depressed relaxed condition with oppression of the chest and epigastrium, impeded respiration, nausea and vomiting. Languor, relaxation of muscles, nausea, vomiting and dyspepsia. Dyspnea from constriction of chest; worse, any exertion. Asthma; attacks, with weakness, felt in pit of stomach and preceded by prickling all over. Cramp, ringing cough, short breath, catching at throat. Senile emphysema. Sits leaning forward.
Ambra Gresia
Asthmatic breathing with eructation of gas. Nervous, spasmodic cough, with hoarseness and eructation, on waking in morning; worse in presence of people. Tickling in throat, larynx and trachea, chest oppressed, gets out of breath when coughing. Hollow, spasmodic, barking cough, coming from deep in chest. Empyema. Choking when hawking up phlegm. Palpitation, with pressure in chest as from a lump lodged there, Palpitation in open air with pale face.
Drosera Rotundfolia
Affects markedly the respiratory organs and is the principal remedy for whooping-cough. Drosera can break down resistance to tubercle. Empyema. Phthisis pulmonal; vomiting of food from coughing with gastric irritation and profuse expectoration. Spasmodic, dry irritative cough, whooping cough. yellow expectoration, with bleeding from nose and mouth, laryngitis. Rough, scraping sensation deep in the faucet and soft palate.
Causticum
Hoarseness with pain in chest; aphonia. Larynx sore. Cough, with raw soreness of chest. Expectoration scanty; must be swallowed. Cough with pain in hip, especially left worse in evening; better, drinking cold water; worse, warmth of bed. Sore streak down trachea. Mucus under sternum, which he cannot quite reach. Pain in chest, with palpitation. Empyema. Voice re-echoes. Own voice roars in ears and distresses. Difficulty of voice of singers and public speakers.
Antimunium Arsencosum
Empyema with excessive dyspnea and cough, much mucous secretion. Worse on eating and lying down. Catarrhal pneumonia associated with influenza. Myocarditis and cardiac weakness. Pleurisy, with exudation and pericarditis, with effusion. Sense of weakness. Inflammation of eyes and edema of face.
Antimuonium Tartaricum
Rattling of mucus with little expectoration with drowsiness, debility and sweat, trembling of whole body, great prostration and faintness. Hoarseness. Rattling of mucus, but hard to expectorate. Burning sensation in chest. Cough excited by eating, with pain in chest and larynx. Edema and impending paralysis of lungs. Empyema.
Coldness, trembling, and chilliness. Intense heat. Copious perspiration. Cold, clammy sweat, with great faintness. Intermittent fever with lethargic condition.
Chamomilla
Hoarseness, hawking, rawness of larynx. Irritable, dry, tickling cough; suffocative tightness of chest, with bitter expectoration in daytime. Rattling of mucus in child’s chest. Empyema.
Pulsatilla Pratensis
Capricious hoarseness; comes and goes. Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Pressure upon the chest and soreness. Empyema. Urine emitted with cough. Pain as from ulcer in middle of chest. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side. Smothering sensation on lying down.
Cina Maritima
Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale. Empyema.
Light chill. Much fever, associated with clean tongue. Much hunger; colicky pains; chilliness, with thirst. Cold sweat on forehead, nose, and hands.
Ammonium Carbonicum
Hoarseness. Cough. Empyema. Burning in chest. Asthenic Pneumonia. Rattling pulmonal sounds. Slimy sputum and specks of blood. Pulmonary edema.
All symptoms worse in warm, especially in morning (warm room/bed).
Sambucus Nigra
Chest oppressed with pressure in stomach, and nausea Hoarseness with tenacious mucus in larynx. Empyema. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnea. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire. Millar’s asthma.
Dry heat while sleeping. Dreads uncovering. Profuse sweat over entire body during waking hours. Dry, deep cough precedes the fever paroxysm.
Conium Maculate
Dry hacking cough, almost continuous; worse, evening and at night, when lying down, talking or laughing, and during pregnancy. Expectoration only after long coughing.
The patient has a cough at night on lying down. A tickling sensation in the throat pit may be prominently present. Empyema.
Hippozaeninum
Hoarseness. Pneumonia (any type). Noisy breathing; short, irregular. Cough, with dyspepsia. Excessive secretion. Suffocation imminent. Bronchitis in the aged, where suffocation from excessive secretion is imminent. Tuberculosis. Empyema.
Spongia Tosta
A remedy especially marked in the symptoms of the respiratory organs, cough, empyema, croup, thyroid gland swollen. stitches and dryness in throat, burning stinging and sore throat etc. Tickling causes cough. Clears throat constantly. Laryngeal phthisis. Goiter.
Great dryness of all air-passages. Hoarseness; larynx dry, burns, constricted. Cough, dry, barking, croupy; larynx sensitive to touch. Croup. Empyema. Cough abates after eating or drinking, especially warm drinks. Wheezing asthmatic cough. Oppression and heat of chest.
Swelling and induration of glands also, exophthalmic; cervical glands swollen with tensive pain on turning head, painful on pressure; Goiter. Itching; measles.
Viola Odorata
Pneumonia. Viral pneumonia. Dry short spasmodic cough and dyspnea; worse in daytime. Oppression of chest. Pertussis, with hoarseness. Dyspnea during pregnancy. Difficult breathing, anxiety and palpitation, with hysteria. Empyema.
Corallium Rubrum
whooping and spasmodic coughs, especially when the attack comes on with a very rapid cough, and the attacks follow so closely as to almost run into each other. Often preceded by sensation of smothering, followed by exhaustion. Empyema. Cough that results from PND (post nasal dripping). Hawking of profuse mucus. Throat very sensitive, especially to air.
The cough appears in quick, short attacks that follow each other in quick succession, hysterical cough. Dry, spasmodic, suffocative cough; very rapid cough, short, barking, whooping-cough. Extreme exhaustion is felt along with the cough.
Millifolium
Millifolium is and antiviral medicine. Cough with bloody sputa or in any lung disease with accompanying cough. Empyema. Shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, oppression of chest. Hemoptysis after injury or following violent exertion.
Natrum Muriaticum
Cough from a tickling in the pit of stomach, accompanied by stitches in liver and spurting of urine. Stitches all over chest. Empyema. Cough, with bursting pain in head. Shortness of breath. Whooping-cough with flow of tears with cough and with salty sputum.
Kali Sulph
Rattling of mucus in chest. Post-grippe cough, especially in children. Empyema. Bronchial asthma, with yellow expectoration. Cough; worse in evening and in hot atmosphere. Croupy hoarseness.
Pulsatilla Nigricans
Capricious hoarseness. Dry cough in evening and at night; must sit up in bed to get relief; and loose cough in the morning, with copious mucous expectoration. Expectoration bland, thick, bitter, greenish. Short breath, anxiety, and palpitation when lying on left side
Heper Sulph
Cough troublesome when walking. Dry, hoarse cough. Cough. Empyema. Croup with loose, rattling cough; worse in morning. Choking cough. Rattling, croaking cough; suffocative attacks; has to rise up and bend head backwards. Anxious, wheezing, moist breathing, asthma worse in dry cold air.
Phosphorus
Cough from tickling in throat; worse, cold air, reading, laughing, talking, from going from warm room into cold air. Sweetish taste while coughing. Hard, dry, tight, racking cough. Congestion of lungs. Burning pains, frothy or blood-stained sputum. The phlegm may be salty or sweet to taste. Strong odors may trigger a cough. Pneumonia, with oppression. Empyema.
Arsenic Album
Asthma worse midnight. Burning in chest. Suffocative catarrh. Cough worse after midnight; worse lying on back. Expectoration scanty, frothy. Darting pain through upper third of right lung. Wheezing respiration. Hemoptysis with pain between shoulders; burning heat all over. Cough dry.
Bryonia Alba
Soreness in larynx and trachea. Hoarseness; worse in open air. Dry, hacking cough from irritation in upper trachea. Cough, dry, at night; must sit up; worse after eating or drinking, with vomiting, with stitches in chest, and expectoration of rust-colored sputa. Frequent desire to take a long breath; must expand lungs. Difficult, quick respiration; worse every movement; caused by stitches in chest. Cough, with feeling as if chest would fly to pieces; presses his head on sternum; must support chest. Croupous and pleuro-pneumonia. Expectoration brick shade, tough, and falls like lumps of jelly. Tough mucus in trachea, loosened only with much hawking. Empyema. Heaviness beneath the sternum extending towards the right shoulder. Cough worse by going into warm room.
Throat: Dryness, sticking on swallowing, scraped and constricted. Tough mucus in larynx and trachea, loosened only after much hawking; worse coming into warm room.
Sambucus Nigra
Empyema. Paroxysmal, suffocative cough, coming on about midnight, with crying and dyspnea. Spasmodic croup. Dry coryza. Sniffles of infants; nose dry and obstructed. Loose choking cough. When nursing child must let go of nipple, nose blocked up, cannot breathe. Child awakes suddenly, nearly suffocating, sits up, turns blue. Cannot expire. Millar’s asthma.
Mephitis Putorius
Sudden contraction of glottis, when drinking or talking. Food goes down wrong way. False croup; cannot exhale. Spasmodic and whooping-cough. Empyema. Asthma, as if inhaling Sulphur; cough from talking; hollow, deep, with rawness, hoarseness, and pains through chest. Violent spasmodic cough; worse at night.
Senega
Hoarseness. Hurts to talk. Bursting pain in back on coughing. Empyema. Cough often ends in a sneeze. Rattling in chest. Chest oppressed on ascending. Bronchial catarrh, with sore chest walls; much mucus; sensation of oppression and weight of chest. Difficult raising of tough, profuse mucus, in the aged. Asthenic bronchitis of old people with chronic interstitial nephritis or chronic emphysema. Old asthmatics with congestive attacks. Exudations in Pleura. Hydrothorax. Pressure on chest as though lungs were forced back to spine. Voice unsteady, vocal cords partially paralyzed.
Mercurius Sulphuricus
Throat. Heat and sensation of constriction in throat. Dryness of tongue and throat. Burning in mouth and throat. Respiratory Organs. Roughness in throat and hoarseness. Sensation of heat in larynx. Increased expectoration of mucus from larynx” and trachea. Dyspnea. Empyema. Hydrothorax.
Cina
Gagging cough in the morning. Whooping-cough. Violent recurring paroxysms, as of down in throat. Cough ends in a spasm. Empyema. Cough so violent as to bring tears and sternal pains; feels as if something had been torn off. Periodic; returning spring and fall. Swallows after coughing. Gurgling from throat to stomach after coughing. Child is afraid to speak or move for fear of bringing on paroxysm of coughing. After coughing, moaning, anxious, gasps for air and turns pale.
Coccus Cacti
Constant hawking from enlarged uvula; coryza, with inflamed faucets; accumulation of thick viscid mucus, which is expectorated with great difficulty. Tickling in larynx. Sensation of a crumb behind larynx, must swallow continually; brushing teeth causes cough. Faucets very sensitive. Empyema. Suffocative cough; worse, first waking, with tough, white mucus, which strangles. Spasmodic morning cough. Whooping cough attacks end with vomiting of this tough mucus. Chronic bronchitis complicated with gravel; large quantities of aluminous, tenacious mucus, are expectorated. Walking against wind takes breath away.
Nux Vomica
Catarrhal hoarseness, with scraping in throat. Spasmodic constriction. Asthma, with fullness in stomach, morning or after eating. Cough, with sensation as if something were torn loose in chest. Shallow respiration. Oppressed breathing. Tight, dry hacking cough; at times with bloody expectoration. Cough brings on bursting headache and bruised pain in epigastric region. Empyema.
For proper consultation and treatment, please visit our clinic.
Location, address and contact numbers are given below.
None of above-mentioned medicine(s) is/are the full/complete treatment, but just hints for treatment; every patient has his/her own constitutional medicine.
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Dr. Sayyad Qaisar Ahmed (MD {Ukraine}, DHMS), Abdominal Surgeries, Oncological surgeries, Gastroenterologist, Specialist Homeopathic Medicines.
Senior research officer at Dnepropetrovsk state medical academy Ukraine.
Location: Al-Haytham clinic, Umer Farooq Chowk Risalpur Sadder (0923631023, 03119884588), K.P.K, Pakistan.
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