Efficacy of pre-operative nasal staphylococcus aureus screening and chlorhexidine chest scrub in decreasing the incidence of post-resection empyema.

Background: We evaluated the efficacy of pre-operative Staphylococcus aureus (SA) screening and chlorhexidine chest scrub in decreasing the incidence of empyema after major pulmonary resections.

Methods: For two years, a strategy aimed at decreasing post-resection empyema was instituted. This entailed pre-operative screening for nasal SA and chlorhexidine chest scrub the night before surgery (Group Swab-Scrub, n=192).

A randomized comparison of different ventilator strategies during thoracotomy for pulmonary resection.

Objective: Protective lung ventilation is reported to benefit patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. It is not known whether protective lung ventilation is also beneficial to patients undergoing single-lung ventilation for elective pulmonary resection.

Methods: In an institutional review board-approved prospective randomized trial, 34 patients undergoing elective pulmonary resection requiring single-lung ventilation were enrolled.