The Transbronchial Drainage of a Lung Abscess Using Endobronchial Ultrasonography with a Modified Guide Sheath

Abstract

Lung abscess is usually treated with long-term antibiotic therapy. Due to the lack of a safe and easy drainage technique, drainage is only applied in refractory cases. We herein describe three cases in which drainage was successfully performed by endobronchial ultrasonography using a modified guide sheath. This procedure may have advantages in the detection of causative pathogens and early infection source control, and may therefore lead to the appropriate selection of antibiotics and reduce the duration of antibiotic therapy.