What is Pleural Effusion?

A lot of people think that pleural effusion is a type of disease. No. it’s not. It’s actually a complication caused by a disorder. Pleural mesothelioma is one of the reasons why a person manifests pleural effusion. Heart failure, pneumonia, pulmonary embolus, tuberculosis, and malignancies or tumors also trigger the occurrence of this condition.

Among the manifestations of pleural effusion include shortness of breath, chest pain, fever, cough, or hiccups. Pleural effusion occurs when fluid accumulate around the lungs. Also known as visceral and parietal pleura, these membranes wrap and protect the lungs. They also lubricate to allow them to function properly. They exist with other organs also. However, their functions are threatened if fluid accumulates in these layers of tissue, lining the lungs and chest cavity. Thus occur malignant pleural mesothelioma, the cancer that hits the lining of the lung after mild or excessive exposure to asbestos.

Around 50 percent of all patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer do manifest malignant pleural effusion, which has an adverse impact on the patients’ breathing. This is because excessive amounts of fluid do limit the breathing by constricting the expansion of the lung upon ventilation. Pleural effusion is diagnosed after thorough checking of the patient’s medical history and through physical exam, as well. Chest x-ray eventually confirms the condition.

Once fluid is greater than 300cc it can be seen on a chest x-ray, as well as other detectable clinical signs. Once identified, the goals of treatment for pleural effusion are to treat the underlying cause, remove the fluid, and to prevent fluid from building up again.

A person showing signs of pleural effusion may be suffering from pleural mesothelioma. In fact, an individual may not even know that he is already manifesting effusion until after diagnosed or revealed by chest x-ray results. There are also instances when patients will need to undergo repeated thoracentesis. This is a procedure that removes the fluid blocking the space between the lining of the pleura (outside the lungs) and the wall of the chest, draining them from fluid.

There are also patients who would go for the PleurX catheter to be inserted into the space. This can be done by the patient himself and right at the comfort of his own home. Minimal care is also needed, that is why it allows patients to go on with their lives and resume their work with minimal interruptions of their life until, of course, the time comes when they have to decide if they really need to undergo further treatment.

Patients who undergo surgery may also manifest pleural effusion, although relief will eventually come their way once their lungs have been drained. The cytology or biopsy, however, may return in the absence of mesothelioma symptoms and it won’t be until the next pleural effusion draining that the test reveals bad news.

Patients suffering from mesothelioma cancer will show symptoms that differ in severity, duration and even in diagnosis. There are patients with malignant mesothelioma but it turns out that they only have a very little amount of liters after fluid has been drained from their chest prior to surgical operation, bringing little relief from shortness of breath and pain. There are also patients who did not feel the effects of symptoms linked with pleural effusion. Instead, they only noted mild shortness of breath with exertion.

With more clinicians now knowledgeable of the different symptoms of pleural mesothelioma and its strong links to pleural effusion, experts are not hoping for faster and more efficient diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma at the earliest stage possible.