Characteristics | Patients |
Subjects | 145 |
Age years | 67.3±11.9 |
Male | 80 (55) |
Comorbidities | |
Pulmonary | 49 (34) |
Cardiac | 77 (44) |
Renal | 20 (14) |
Hypoalbuminemia | 17 (12) |
Liver cirrhosis | 10 (7) |
Diabetes mellitus | 28 (19) |
Previous drainages | 83 (57) |
Aetiology of the pleural effusion | |
Malignant# | 92 (63) |
Mesothelioma | 37 |
NSCLC (lung) | 17 |
Breast | 9 |
Ovarian/endometrial | 9 |
Lymphoma | 5 |
Benign¶ | 53 (37) |
Heart failure related | 20 |
Side of pleural effusion | |
Right | 74 (51) |
Left | 47 (32) |
Bilateral | 24 (17) |
Procedure type | |
Intercostal catheter | 61 (42) |
Indwelling pleural catheter | 41 (28) |
Needle aspiration | 40 (28) |
Pleuroscopy | 4 (3) |
Volume of pleural fluid drained L | 1.67 (1.10–2.60) |
Trapped lung | 31 (21) |
Data are presented as n, mean±sd, n (%) or median (interquartile range). NSCLC: nonsmall cell lung cancer. #: paramalignant (n=6), carcinoma of unknown origin (n=3), transitional cell carcinoma (n=1), melanoma (n=1), small cell carcinoma (n=1), oesophageal carcinoma (n=1), colorectal carcinoma (n=1), osteosarcoma (n=1); ¶: pleural infection (n=8), hepatic hydrothorax (n=6), pleuritis (n=4), aetiology not defined (n=3), reactive effusion post-haemathorax (n=2), yellow nail syndrome (n=2), related to peritoneal dialysate (n=1), pancreatitis (n=1), post-coronary artery bypass grafting effusion (n=1), chylothorax (n=2), tuberculous effusion (n=1), post-lobectomy effusion (n=1), benign asbestos-related pleural effusion (n=1).