Pleural Fluid

posted in Pulmonology, Hematology/Oncology on by

Brief HPI:

A 43 year-old female with no reported medical history presents with shortness of breath. She notes 2 months of gradually worsening symptoms associated with unproductive cough and intermittent subjective fevers. Symptoms are worsened with activity and when laying flat. She has no history of similar symptoms in the past.

Vital signs are notable for tachycardia, tachypnea and hypoxia. Examination demonstrates absent breath sounds in the entire right lung field. A plain chest radiograph is obtained and shown below. The patient was placed on non-invasive positive pressure with minimal improvement and an emergent therapeutic thoracentesis was performed. Pleural fluid was exudative and a large volume was submitted for cytology.

Whiteout right lung field Whiteout right lung field

An Algorithm for the Analysis of Pleural Fluid

An Algorithm for the Analysis of Pleural Fluid

References

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