Chest
Clinical InvestigationsThe PleuraHypoalbuminemia as a Cause of Pleural Effusions
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
All patients admitted to the University of Oklahoma Hospital and the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center between July and September 1996 were prospectively screened for inclusion in this study. Patients who fit the criteria for inclusion were those who obtained a chest radiograph, and serum albumin and total protein level determinations within 24 h of admission. Patients with clinical diagnoses associated with the development of pleural effusion were excluded from the
Results
Prospective screening of 594 patients at admission identified 296 eligible patients with a chest radiograph, and serum albumin and total protein measurements within 24 h of admission. Of these 296 patients, 144 patients met one or more of the exclusion criteria, leaving 152 patients for analysis. Group 1 comprised 104 patients, group 2 comprised 47 patients, and group 3 comprised 1 patient with a serum albumin level of < 2.0 g/dL.
Twenty additional group 3 patients with serum albumin levels of ≤
Discussion
The present study suggests that clinically significant pleural effusions are uncommon in patients who have low plasma albumin levels but no other causes for their pleural effusions. There were no apparent etiologies for the pleural effusions identified in two patients with normal serum albumin levels. We relied on posteroanterior and lateral chest radiography to identify their pleural effusions. It is possible that the incidence of pleural effusion was underestimated because up to 200 mL of
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Anatomy and Physiology of the Pleural Space
2021, Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine, Second EditionPleural lymphatics and effusions
2013, Revue de Pneumologie CliniqueA 71-year-old woman with an unusual cause for pleural effusions
2011, ChestCitation Excerpt :The authors found that hypoalbuminemia and the nephritic syndrome were not associated with a greater incidence of pleural effusions in these patients. A prior prospective study in which patients with pleural effusions of unknown etiology were stratified according to levels of albumin also found that hypoalbuminemia alone was not the cause of the effusion.8 Hence, in patients with unexplained pleural effusions and hypoalbuminemia, prospective follow-up of the patients' clinical course identified potential causes other than hypoalbuminemia.
Colloid Osmotic Pressure
2008, Critical Care Nephrology, Second EditionPersistent pleural effusions in primary systemic amyloidosis: Etiology and prognosis
2003, ChestCitation Excerpt :These data demonstrate that nephrotic range proteinuria and hypoalbuminemia in combination with restrictive AL cardiomyopathy do not induce pleural effusions. Similarly, a large prospective study36 of 172 medical patients found no pleural effusions that were attributable to hypoalbuminemia alone. The inability of aggressive diuretic therapy to resolve persistent AL effusions suggests that amyloid inhibits pleural fluid resorption.
Pleural effusion caused by prostaglandin E<inf>1</inf> preparation
2003, ChestCitation Excerpt :Besides, it is reported that the serum albumin level is not significantly related to the frequency of pleural effusion and hypoalbuminemia alone rarely causes pleural effusion. We therefore sought some other cause of exudative pleural effusion in our case.2 Besides improving circulation, PGE1 preparations also enhance capillary permeability.34