Ultrasound for pleural procedures
This section will review the use of ultrasound for guidance of pleural effusion drainage. We will review a step-wise process to explore 1. ultrasound-based diagnosis of a pleural effusion 2. common pathologies that may masquerade as a pleural effusion 3. ultrasound guided-quantification and 4. ultrasound-based procedural guidance. Although we have selected a number of pleural devices that are available in the Edmonton zone, the essentials of this procedure remain the same.
For the sake of simplicity, this page will not review the differential diagnosis, decision to whether a patient requires diagnostic or therapeutic drainage, or adjunctive imaging (e.g. CT for pleural enhancement in empyema).
Key references for this approach are at the end of this page.