Thoracocentesis under ultrasonographic control

Chest ultrasonography has been advocated as an effective tool for diagnosis and localization of pleural effusion. To determine if chest ultrasonography would be beneficial, when thoracocentesis was performed, 71 patients with suspected pleural effusion were evaluated. Two groups of patients were formed according to the presence of small or large suspected effusion ascertained by chest posteroanterior roentgenogram. Chest ultrasound was found very useful, both for establishing diagnosis of pleural fluid and for obtaining adequate fluid samples of small effusions. This technique had no such advantage during thoracocentesis of large effusions. During and after thoracocentesis, there were no complications in any group of patients. Authors concluded that ultrasound method seems to be very useful in choosing the optimal site for thoracocentesis, particularly of small effusions.