Clinical classification and analysis of 97 cases of lung abscess.

The cases of 97 patients with lung abscess were reviewed and were found to be separable into two distinct clinical groups, depending on the clinical circumstances in which the lesion developed. Group I (simple lung abscess) was composed of patients with no other disease; in group II, abscesses occurred in patients with systemic malignant or nonmalignant diseases. Several features, including age, mode of onset, site of abscess, and bacteriologic data, were found to depend on the clinical class of the patient. When compared with patients in group II, group I patients tended to be younger, to have a more insidious onset, to have abscesses in classic locations for aspiration, and to have mixed flora cultured from their sputum. The differences in mortality among the two groups of patients are striking. Two per cent of the patients in group I died (one postoperative death) as compared with 75 per cent of those in group II (one postoperative death and 29 medical deaths). The therapeutic approach used in this ser...