Pleural effusion surgery
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Pleural effusion Microchapters |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Case Studies |
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Pleural effusion surgery On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Pleural effusion surgery |
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Risk calculators and risk factors for Pleural effusion surgery |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Prince Tano Djan, BSc, MBChB [2]
Overview
Surgery
The primary role of surgical therapy is to drain the pleural fluid and prevent fluid from building up again. Therapeutic aspiration may be sufficient; larger effusions may require insertion of an intercostal drain as seen in the video below. Therapeutic thoracentesis are done if the fluid collection is large and causing chest pressure, shortness of breath, or other breathing problems, such as hypoxia. Removing the fluid allows the lung to expand, making breathing easier. In people with cancer or infections, the effusion is often treated by using a chest tube for several days to drain the fluid.
Sometimes, small tubes can be left in the pleural cavity for a long time to drain the fluid. Repeated effusions may require chemical (talc, bleomycin, tetracycline/doxycycline) or surgical pleurodesis, in which the two pleural surfaces are attached to each other so that no fluid can accumulate between them.
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References