Pleural disease

Pleural content anomalies

• Pneumothorax: a collection of air within the pleural cavity, arising either from the outside or from the lung. Pneumothoraces may be traumatic, iatrogenic, or spontaneous. A tension pneumothorax is a particular type of pneumothorax where the air may enter on inspiration, but cannot exit on expiration. Each breath increases the amount of trapped air in the chest cavity, leading to further lung compression. This is often an urgent situation and may progress to a medical emergency if there is compromise of the venous return to the heart causing hypotension and rarely shock.
• Pleural effusion: a fluid accumulation within the pleural space. Abnormal collections of pleural fluid may be due to excessive fluid volume, decreased fluid protein, heart failure, bleeding, infections, inflammation, malignancies, or perforation of thoracic organs.

  Pleural tumors

• * Mesothelial tumors: pleural malignant mesothelioma.
• * Pleural sarcomas
• ** Pleural angiosarcoma
• ** Pleural desmoplastic small round cell tumor
• ** Pleural synovial sarcoma
• ** Pleural solitary fibrous tumor
• * Smooth muscle tumors of the pleura
• * Pleural carcinomas
• ** Pleural mucoepidermoid carcinoma
• ** Pleural pseudomesotheliomatous adenocarcinoma

  Other pleural diseases

• Pleural infections
• Pleural endometriosis
• Pleuritis
• Pleural mesothelial hyperplasia
• Pleural calcified fibrous pseudotumor
• Pleural thickening, including pleural plaques