Chest
Clinical InvestigationsPleuralPatient With Bilateral Pleural Effusion: Are the Findings the Same in Each Fluid?
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
Saint Thomas Hospital is a tertiary-care medical center. Since September 1, 1997, we have maintained a database on all patients who undergo ultrasonically guided thoracentesis and who signed an informed consent approved by the Institutional Review Board. Every patient (both outpatients and inpatients) who undergoes ultrasound-assisted thoracentesis in Saint Thomas Hospital and signs the consent form is prospectively entered. We conducted a retrospective pilot study to examine whether, in
Results
Thirty-three patients were identified from the database who underwent bilateral thoracentesis on the same day. Twenty-seven patients with definitive diagnosis and available laboratory data were included in the study. Four patients were excluded because pleural fluid data were missing from one or both sides, and two patients were excluded because of no definite diagnosis.
The most common diagnoses were pleural effusion after CABG (13 cases) and congestive heart failure (12 cases). One patient had
Discussion
In the present study, we examined whether, in patients with bilateral pleural effusion, the pleural fluid characteristics differ from one side to the other. We studied the TP, glucose, and LDH levels, RBC counts, NCCs, and differentials. Our results indicate the following: (1) there is no significant difference in the mean values of the measurements between the right side and the left side, (2) the bias for every pleural fluid characteristic is not clinically significant, and (3) there are
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank Miss Emily Melton for secretarial assistance.
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Is bilateral thoracocentesis necessary in bilateral pleural effusion?
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2013, Respiratory MedicineCitation Excerpt :That study also showed that, on average, characteristics of the fluid were similar between the left and right sides, including levels of protein, LDH, glucose, and cell counts. Those authors concluded that bilateral fluid analysis need not be performed on both sides unless there is a specific clinical indication.2 There is limited data regarding pleural fluid etiologies or safety of removing fluid from both hemithoraces at the same time in patients with bilateral pleural effusions.
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Support was provided by the Saint Thomas Foundation.
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