Thoracentesis

[Guest guest]

Dear Gail,

I never had thoracentesis, but I have had pleural and pericardial effusions

while on BMS. Some people get it and some don't. I'm in the SKI trial and my

pulmonologist informed me in December that I again had pleural effusions. I

sent a copy of the radiology report to my doctor at MDACC.

I went there the following week. They told me that they didn't advocate doing

thoracentesis nor the taking of Lasix. Their reasoning was that for nearly

every drug I take, there is another you need for the side effects. For example,

if I took Lasix, I would have to take magnesium and be monitored to see if I had

too much or too little and that would require more drugs. I have not been back

to my pulmonoligist since because I was hospitalized with c-difficle and I am

not over it, as I have some of the same symptoms, though not as severe at all

times. I have an appointment with my internist next week to check out a whole

list of things - hormones, minerals, vitamins, etc. I think if they are going

to check one, they might as well go down the line because I have been reading on

the list, some of you have had too much or too little of the hormones, etc. Web

MD has a very simple, but informative article on the entire procedure, the best

I have seen yet. I found more at different web sites you might be interested in

reading, also.

http://tinyurl.com/ao28ny

They next send the fluid obtained to the lab for testing as follows:

a.. Look at the fluid obtained and note any odour: purulent fluid suggests

empyema; milky, opalescent fluid suggests chylothorax; grossly bloody fluid

suggests haemothorax; anaerobic infection has a pungent odour.

a.. Separate the pleural fluid into different sterile pots to be sent for

biochemistry, microbiology, cytology ± immunology. Some fluid should also be

added to blood culture bottles.

a.. A post-procedure chest X-ray to look for pneumothorax is not generally

needed provided the patient is asymptomatic and the procedure was uncomplicated.

http://tinyurl.com/bz743p

Pleural effusion itself is not a disease as much as a result of many different

diseases. For this reason, there is no " typical " patient in terms of age, sex,

or other characteristics. Instead, anyone who develops one of the many

conditions that can produce an effusion may be affected.

There are two types of pleural effusion: the transudate and the exudate. This is

a very important point because the two types of fluid are very different, and

which type is present points to what sort of disease is likely to have produced

the effusion. It also can suggest the best approach to treatment. If too

little protein is present in the blood, the vessels are less able to hold the

fluid part of blood within them and it leaks out into the pleural space.

http://www.answers.com/topic/pleural-effusion

Over time this fluid hardens. Sometimes it is necessary to seal this area, to

keep more fluid from forming in the pleura. I am at a loss for the name of the

procedure or name of the product used. Can anyone reading this fill in the

blanks for me?

Blessings,

Lottie