In the case of chronically infected pigs, pleural adhesions and abscesses are normally found.

In various animal models, TGF-β, administered directly or via vector transfection, induces pleural fibrosis, and anti-TGF-β antibodies can inhibit pleural adhesion formation in empyema.

Recurrent pleural effusions may be treated with pleural sclerosing procedures; however, failure rates are usually secondary to the bulk of the tumor, which precludes pleural adhesion due to the inability of the lung to fully expand.