Radiological And Clinical Pattern Of Pleural Effusion In Ilorin.

Abstract

Background: Pleural effusion (PE) is the disorders commonest manifestation of pleural disease and may herald pathologies from other parts and Sancho quoted incidence of of the body. Etiology varies with age and geographical location. Chest radiography is an essential component of early assessment though there are suggestions to apply ultrasonography also early in patient evaluation. This study aims to determine radiological and clinical pattern of pleural effusions based on clinical and radiological may provide clues to the etiology4, diagnosis of pleural effusion and to correlate occurs in a wide variety of clinical conditions this with etiology. and because it may evade clinical detection, Method: A retrospective analysis of 276 plain other diagnostic measures are often Chest X-rays (CXR) of patients diagnosed necessary4,5. These includes imaging clinically to have PE over a period of 6½ years modalities, pleural fluid analysis, pleural in the University of Teaching Hospital was biopsy and thoracoscpy2,3,4,5. Of the imaging conducted. techniques, plain CXR has become a Result: A bimodal age distribution involving universally accepted modality being cheap, the first and second decades was easily accessible and non-sophisticated. demonstrated. Etiological factors were Other modalities include thoracic identified in 95.6% of cases. Chronic ultrasound (ThUSS), chest CT scan, and inflammation and pyogenic effusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)2,3,5. accounted for 47.6%. Amongst children, adolescents and young adults, the The aim of this study is to determine the percentage rose to 62.0%. Heart failure was clinical characters of patients with pleural responsible for PE in 18.1% of all the cases effusion evaluated by plain chest radiograph and 63.3% of patients =50years. More than at the radiology department of University of half of PE occurred in the right hemithorax Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria and to (53.1%). Pyogenic and malignant effusion correlate this to the etiology. It is expected showed predilection for the right side (75.6% that this will reflect the pattern which exists and 58.3% respectively). Heart failure in a developing society. accounted for 57.1% of all patients with bilateral effusions. Conclusion: We found that chronic This retrospective study was conducted at inflammation and pyogenic effusion the radiology department of University of accounted for a greater proportion of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH). The etiological factors. Conventional CXR is still requests and reports of plain chest valuable as a first line investigative modality