Can occluded pleural effusion be cured?

The thoracic cavity is a common cavity, which is surrounded by the diaphragm and the thorax. There is also the pleural cavity, which is surrounded by two layers of pleura on the left and right lungs. It is a completely closed cavity and contains a small amount of serous fluid that can act as a lubricant. So the pleural effusion we often talk about is actually not in the chest cavity, but to be precise, it is pleural cavity effusion. There may be many diseases that cause pleural effusion, so it may be difficult to treat. So can loculated pleural effusion be cured?

Western medicine: Western medicine treatment mainly aims to absorb or stabilize the exudative pleural effusion by treating the primary disease or correcting the cause of pleural fluid leakage: (I) Tuberculous pleural effusion (1) Anti-tuberculosis drug treatment.

(2) Thoracentesis: Moderate or more effusion requires therapeutic thoracentesis, which can alleviate or relieve the symptoms of pulmonary and cardiovascular compression, reduce fibrin deposition and pleural thickening, and reduce or avoid the possibility of affecting lung function.

(3) Glucocorticoids: Glucocorticoids can reduce inflammatory responses, alleviate the poisoning symptoms of tuberculous pleural effusion, accelerate the absorption of pleural effusion, and reduce the chance of pleural thickening and adhesion.

Metastasis of lung cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma, and ovarian cancer is a common cause of malignant pleural effusion. (1) Systemic anti-tumor chemotherapy

For malignant tumors that are more sensitive to systemic anti-tumor chemotherapy, pleural effusion disappears in about 1/3 of patients after systemic chemotherapy. (2) Local treatment of the thoracic cavity

① Injection of anti-tumor drugs into the pleural cavity: usually intercostal incision and drainage are used to empty the pleural effusion as much as possible, and anti-tumor drugs are injected through the drainage tube, which can kill cancer cells but may also cause pleural adhesions.

②Inject biological immunomodulators into the pleural cavity.

③ Pleural adhesion surgery: make the pleura adhere and the pleural cavity closed to prevent the recurrence of pleural effusion. 3. Purulent pleural effusion

Purulent pleural effusion often occurs secondary to purulent infection or trauma. The main infectious pathogens include Staphylococcus aureus, anaerobic bacteria, Gram-negative bacilli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, actinomycetes, etc.

Some treatments for loculated pleural effusion were mentioned above. In fact, loculated pleural effusion can be prevented. First of all, the primary disease must be prevented. If there is a chest disease or systemic disease, pleural effusion may be a part of it, so preventing the primary disease is the most critical. The next thing is to adjust your living habits, keep your living place clean and dry, be careful not to overeat, try not to eat raw or cold food, etc.