Research Information System
Medical Journal of Bakirkoy, vol.17, no.4, pp.304-311, 2021 (ESCI)
Objective: Pleural effusion (PE) is a common pathological condition that can occur during the clinical course of many diseases. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the clinical features and treatment results of patients with pleural fluid drainage due to PE. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed in the study with 103 patients between January 2020 and March 2021, who had pleural drainage due to PE. The posteroanterior and lateral chest radiographs were evaluated. Results: A total of 103 patients were included in the study, with an overall mean age of 62.5 years minimum: 24, maximum: 91 years. Most patients had three or more comorbid diseases (n=53, 51.5%). The majority of patients had drainage using a pleural catheter (n=97, 94.2%). Cytological examination of the pleural fluid revealed malignancy in 5 (4.9%) patients, whereas 89 (86.4%) were discharged during follow-up, and 14 (13.6%) had mortality. In the patients who died, more fluid with exudate characteristics at a level close to statistical significance was detected. Malignant cells were detected in the pleural fluid in 10% of patients with primary malignant cases (n=50), whereas no malignant cell was found in the pleural fluid of patients without malignancy diagnosis (n=53), with a statistically significant difference between patients with and without malignancy. The total length of hospital stay was significantly higher in patients undergoing a second surgical procedure. Conclusion: Patients undergoing pleural fluid drainage had at least one systemic disease. The most common systemic disease in patients was a cardiac disease, followed by malignant disease. "No malignant cells were detected in the fluids of patients without primary malignancy," in the cytology. In addition, the rate of second pleural surgery is high in PE cases, which further prolongs the length of hospitalization of these patients.