empyema (em-pi-e'mah)

A collection of pus in a closed cavity of the body, especially the pleura, e. benignum. A form of e. in which the general health is fairly good and there is no rise of temperature, but which is usually fatal, inter lobar e. E. in which the pus is collected between the lobes of the lung, loculated e. E. in which pus collects in a group of loculi. pneumococcal e. E. caused by the pneumococcus. pulsating e. A form of e. of the thorax in which the cardiac pulsations cause a movement of the chest walls, putrid e. E. in which the pus has undergone greater or le decomposition. streptococcal e. E. caused by the streptococcus of erysipelas, tuberculous e. A rare variety of e. due to the tubercle bacillus. [Gr., en, within, -fpyon, pus.]