Successful treatment of parapneumonic empyema after H1N1 infection in a heart transplant recipient

Pandemic influenza A H1N1 virus is likely to cause severe disease in patients who have received solid organs transplants. In these patients pneumonia is the most frequent clinical feature. Parapneumonic empyema (PPE) may represent the evolution of secondary bacterial respiratory infections. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of PPE during H1N1 influenza A in an adult heart transplanted patient. The patient was treated successfully with surgical empyemectomy and lung decortication, broad-spectrum antibiotics and oseltamivir. Eradication of influenza was obtained in the fifth postoperative day. © 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.