Pleurectomy in the management of massive pleural effusion associated with primary lymphoedema: demonstration of abnormal pleural lymphatics.

Pleural effusions occur in patients with primary lymphoedema. Twenty such cases from published reports have been reviewed by Beer et al.' Although these effusions may be massive with rapid reaccumulation after thoracocentesis, we have been able to find only two brief reports of cases in which obliteration of the pleural space by pleurectomy2 3 was considered necessary. We have found no histological documentation of the abnormality of the pleural lymphatics in this condition. We report a case of primary lymphoedema with recurrent massive pleural effusions successfully treated by pleurectomy.