Causes

1. Despite its rather unfamiliar name, pleural effusion is actually a common medical condition. According to theNational Cancer Institute, the condition affects about 100,000 Americans every year.
2. An effusion is categorized based on the cause, and there are two types of pleural effusion: transudative and exudative. My pleural effusion belongs to the second type: exudative pleural effusion.

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A transudative pleural effusion is one producing a clear fluid. This is not a disease in the pleura itself, but rather an imbalance in the removal and intake of pleural fluid. It is caused by a number of factors, including pulmonary embolism, heart failure, post open heart surgery, and cirrhosis.

Exudative pleural effusion comes about when the pleura itself is diseased. The causes are several and varying, most common of which are infections due to bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis. In developing countries, tuberculosis is noticed as the leading cause of pleural effusion.

However, pleural effusion is most likely related to bacterial pneumonia in as much as 50% of all cases. Other causes of exudative effusion are cancer, pulmonary embolism, inflammatory disease, and kidney disease.

Forty percent of the time, congestive heart failure is the known main cause of pleural effusion.

As a result, a bilateral type of effusion is usually observed. For a one-sided effusion, the right part of the lungs is frequently the one affected because people tend to lie on the right side.

Severity

The seriousness of an effusion case depends primarily on the main cause, likelihood of treatment, and whether or not breathing is compromised. Two important parameters are factored into the treatment: related mechanical issues and root cause of the problem.

Symptoms

A few patients having effusions do not show any symptoms, the problem only being discovered when they undergo chest x-ray for a different reason. The following are the most common symptoms of effusion:

1.           Dry cough
2.           Chest pain
3.           Breathing difficulty

Other symptoms include chills, loss of appetite and fever. When patients try to breathe deeply, pain increases, but this depends on the amount of liquid in the pleurae. The more liquid is there, the more it is difficult to breathe deeply.