What should I do if ultrasound detects pleural effusion?

Pleural effusion is a relatively common phenomenon, and many diseases can also cause pleural effusion. Many patients with advanced lung cancer not only have severe coughs, but also have severe pleural effusions, which make breathing more difficult. Therefore, if pleural effusions occur, they must be treated in a timely manner. Let's take a brief look at it below!

Excessive fluid in the pleural cavity due to any reason is called pleural effusion, commonly known as pleural effusion. We often say pleural effusion, which is actually pleural effusion. In a normal person, there is 3ml to 15ml of fluid in the pleural cavity, which acts as a lubricant during breathing, but the amount of fluid in the pleural cavity is not fixed.

Even for normal people, 500ml to 1000ml of fluid is produced and absorbed every 24 hours. The fluid in the pleural cavity is reabsorbed from the venous end of the capillaries, and the remaining fluid is recycled into the blood by the lymphatic system. Filtration and absorption are in a dynamic balance. If this dynamic balance is disrupted due to systemic or local diseases, resulting in excessive rapid formation or slow absorption of fluid in the pleural cavity, clinical pleural effusion will occur. According to the characteristics of pleural effusion, pleural effusion can be divided into transudate, exudate (serous or bloody), empyema, hemothorax, and chylothorax.

Malignant pleural effusion is mostly caused by the progression of malignant tumors and is a common complication of advanced malignant tumors. For example, lung cancer accompanied by pleural effusion is already in the advanced stage. Imaging examinations can help understand the extent of lesions in the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes. Because pleural effusion grows rapidly and persists, patients often experience severe breathing difficulties and even death due to the pressure of large amounts of effusion. Therefore, these patients require repeated thoracentesis to draw fluid. However, repeated extraction of fluid can cause excessive protein loss (1 liter of pleural fluid contains 40 grams of protein), making treatment very difficult and the effect unsatisfactory.

Therefore, correct diagnosis of malignant tumors and tissue types and timely, reasonable and effective treatment are of great significance in alleviating symptoms, alleviating pain, improving quality of life and prolonging life. Systemic chemotherapy has a certain effect on pleural effusion caused by some small cell lung cancer. Patients with mediastinal lymph node metastasis can receive local radiotherapy. After aspirating the pleural fluid, injecting anti-tumor drugs including doxorubicin, cisplatin, fluorouracil, mitomycin, nitrocarbamide, bleomycin, etc. into the pleural cavity is a commonly used treatment method. This helps kill tumor cells, slows the production of pleural fluid, and can cause pleural adhesions. Intrapleural injection of biological immunomodulators is a relatively successful method explored in recent years for the treatment of malignant pleural effusions. Such agents, such as Corynebacterium brevis vaccine (CP), IL-2, interferon β, interferon γ, lymphokine-activated killer cells (LAK cells), tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), etc., can inhibit malignant tumor cells, enhance local infiltration and activity of lymphocytes, and cause pleural adhesion. In order to close the pleural cavity, after the pleural fluid is drained with a chest tube, pleural adhesion agents such as tetracycline, erythromycin, and talcum powder can be injected to cause adhesion between the two layers of pleura to avoid the re-formation of pleural fluid. If a small amount of lidocaine and dexamethasone are injected at the same time, it can relieve adverse reactions such as pain and fever.

Patients with pleural effusion must go to a large hospital for treatment. Generally, chemotherapy or radiotherapy can improve such symptoms very well. During the treatment, patients also need to pay more attention to their diet. Spicy and greasy foods are not allowed, and irritating foods are also not allowed to be eaten!