Table 2
Diagnostically useful pleural fluid characteristics
Fluid
Suspected disease
Putrid odour
Anaerobic empyema
Food particles
Oesophageal rupture
Bile stained
Cholothorax (biliary fistula)
Milky
Chylothorax/pseudochylothorax
‘Anchovy sauce’ like fluid
Ruptured amoebic abscess