Tuberc Respir Dis.  2008 May;64(5):379-382. 10.4046/trd.2008.64.5.379.

A Case of Posttraumatic Pleural Effusion with Peripheral Eosinophilia

• Kim JH
• Kim YS
• Ku BH
• Choi YK
• Kim DH
• Chin JY
• Oh MJ

• KMID: 1478195
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2008.64.5.379

Abstract

Eosinophilic pleural effusions (EPE) are defined as those effusions that contain at least 10% eosinophils, and EPE can be associated with peripheral blood eosinophilia in a variety of systemic diseases. There have been a few cases that have addressed the association of peripheral blood eosinophilia and posttraumatic EPE, and this condition can be misdiagnosed as being the result of other causes due to the delayed presentation. We report here on a case of 47-year-old male who presented with eosinophilic pleural effusion associated with peripheral blood eosinophilia at 2 months after minor chest trauma. We excluded the other possible causes such as consumption of drugs, parasite infection, malignancy, diseases of pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration, autoimmune diseases and pulmonary thromboembolism. We observed his clinical course without specific treatment. Three months later, the pleural effusion completely disappeared and the number of peripheral eosinophils returned to normal.

Keyword

Pleural effusion; Eosinophilia; Trauma

MeSH Terms

Autoimmune Diseases
Eosinophilia
Eosinophils
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Parasites
Pleural Effusion
Pulmonary Embolism
Thorax

Figure

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  Figure 1 Initial chest PA & right decubitus show a right pleural effusion (A, B). A follow-up chest PA (3 months later) shows a complete disappearance of right pleural effusion (C).

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  Figure 2 Chest CT scan shows a fracture of posterior arc of 10th rib (A). Chest CT scan shows a right pleural effusion with passive atelectasis, not showing any parenchymal abnormalities (B, C).

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