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Updated: Sep 21, 2026

A Pleural Effusion Model in Rats by Intratracheal Instillation of Polyacrylate/Nanosilica
Published on: April 12, 2019
Pleural effusion: an "acoustic window" for sonography of pleural metastases
C Goerg1, W B Schwerk, K Goerg
1Department of Medicine, Philipps University, School of Medicine, Marburg, Federal Republic of Germany.
Abstract:
We report the sonographic findings in 32 patients with malignant disease associated with pleural effusions diagnosed by chest roentgenograms. No tumor lesions were seen in any case on X-ray films. Thoracic sonography, however, detected previously undocumented metastatic disease with diaphragmatic (N = 19), parietal (N = 8), visceral (N = 2) or combined (N = 3) pleural involvement. Additionally, a distinction could be made between nodular lesions (N = 19), sheet-like tumor masses (N = 10), and combined (N = 3) tumor spread. In all cases thoracentesis was performed. Cytology showed malignant cells in 28 patients. Pleural metastasis was histologically confirmed by ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy in 2 cases. The present study demonstrates the value of scrutinized thoracic sonography in patients with pleural effusion for the detection of pleural metastases.
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