Tuesday, January 22, 2008
What is an Empyema?
Look up empyema? What is it? Would it have any effect on voice and/or swallowing? Why or why not? Are empyemas usually on the right side of the body?
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Dr. William J. Mayo, Rush College of Medicine Commencement, 1910
Dr. William J. Mayo, Rush College of Medicine Commencement, 1910
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- Carley
- a certified member of the American Speech Hearing Association and licensed in the state of South Carolina
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The contents of this blog are entirely my own or have been selected by myself or by those directly supervised by me. This blog in no way is supported by the Medical University of South Carolina; and therefore represents only my views as a speech language pathologist.
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2 comments:
Empyema is a condition characterized by a collection of pus in the pleural cavity. Empyemas may occur in other hollow cavities in the body, but are mainly found in the pleural cavity as a result of infection from pneumonia. When the infected fluid in the pleural space builds up to a pint or more, it puts considerable pressure on the lungs. This usually leads to shortness of breath, malaise, pain, and dyspnea. The implications for speech stem from the shortness of breath. If the patient has difficulty breathing, speaking will be compromised due to the lack of breath support. As for swallowing, I didn't find any material stating a connection between difficulty swallowing and empyema. Also, I didn't find any statistics stating that empyemas occur primarily on the right side of the body; however, the articles/abstracts that I came across in my research only spoke of right-sided empyemas. I'll see about finding out more tomorrow!
Lindsay,
That's quite interesting, isn't it? That empyemas mentioned in the literature are right-sided.
Are most/many pneumonias right-sided? What sort of pneumonia would expected to be in the right lung lobe? Why? or why not?
Food for thinking.
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