Patient Identification and Eligibility
pleural infection, purulent, fever
THORACIC, PLEURAL INFECTION, LEUKOCYTOSIS
Patients admitted to or consulting with the Department of Thoracic Surgery and Interventional Pulmonology were screened for eligibility daily. Patients were eligible if they were 18 years or older, had a clinical pleural infection (fever and/or leukocytosis, elevated procalcitonin level, and/or elevated C-reactive protein level) and positive results of pleural fluid analysis (macroscopically purulent, positive Gram stain or culture, lactate dehydrogenase level >1000 U/L [to convert to microkatals per liter, multiply by 0.0167], or glucose level <40 mg/dL [to convert to millimoles per liter, multiply by 0.0555]). Pleural fluid sampling and timing was performed as per standard clinical care. Exclusion criteria are provided in eTable 1 in 