BACKGROUND Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is an extremely common problem affecting cancer patients, and thoracentesis is an essential procedure in an attempt to delineate the etiology of the fluid collections and to relieve symptoms in affected patients. One of the most common complications of thoracentesis is pneumothorax, which has been reported to occur in 20% to 39% of thoracenteses, with...

The factors influencing the efficacy of ultrasound-guided thoracentesis catheter drainage were investigated in the present study. A retrospective analysis of clinical data from 435 patients who presented with a pleural effusion was performed. Patients were divided into a control group and an intervention group. Thirty-seven patients in the control group were given standard care using pleural pu...

Although eosinophilic pleural effusion (EPE) has been a subject of numerous studies, its clinical significance still remains unclear. The aim of our study was to evaluate: 1) the relative incidence and aetiology of EPE; 2) the predictors of malignancy in patients with EPE; and 3) the relationship between repeated thoracentesis and pleural fluid eosinophilia. A retrospective analysis of 2,205 pl...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the utility of chest radiograph (CXR) immediately after routine thoracentesis. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Multispecialty clinic/teaching hospital. PARTICIPANTS All outpatients and inpatients undergoing thoracentesis in the procedure area from October 1995 to January 1998. MEASUREMENTS Immediately after thoracentesis, the physician completed a ques...

BACKGROUND Simulation-based medical education has been widely used in medical skills training; however, the effectiveness and long-term outcome of simulation-based training in thoracentesis requires further investigation. The purpose of this study was to assess the learning curve of simulation-based thoracentesis training, study skills retention and transfer of knowledge to a clinical setting f...

I read with interest the article “Limited Utility of Chest Radiograph After Thoracentesis” by Petersen and Zimmerman in a recent issue of CHEST (April 2000).1 Although I agree that performing a routine chest radiograph following a thoracentesis is needless in most patients, I was surprised by the number of pneumothoraces that occurred during the performance of thoracentesis, because, in my hand...

Giant left atrium is an uncommon pathology to encounter during bedside chest ultrasound, but is an important structure to be aware of when considering thoracentesis. This cardiac structure could easily be mistaken for loculated pleural fluid. This case also supports growing evidence that expert users can safely perform thoracentesis without completely reversing therapeutic anticoagulation.