Breathwork - Pleural Effusions with Dr Laura Gleeson (Part 2)

This week, we speak to Dr. Laura Gleeson again—this time about pleural effusions. Our conversation covers all the pleural effusion basics, plus the nuances of radiology, when to insert a chest drain, and how to monitor it once it’s in place. Chapters: 01:05 – Rapid fire round 04:23 – Pleural effusion intro 05:30 – Symptoms at presentation with pleural effusion 06:40 – Interpreting a white-out on CXR 07:20 – When to do further radiology/imaging 08:35 – CT pre or post chest drain insertion? 10:25 – Light’s criteria – can it always be trusted? 12:00 – What tests to send on your pleural fluid sample 14:15 – Chest drain indications 16:35 – Monitoring your chest drain 21:00 – Flushing the chest drain 22:20 – How much fluid to drain 25:00 – Removing the chest drain 27:10 – Empyema management 30:10 – Fibrinolysis 31:55 – Following up your pleural patients 34:10 – Take-home points Show notes & resources: Light’s criteria – MDCalc calculator | CHEST Clinics article MIST trials – MIST2 – NEJM | MIST3 – ATS Journals