Affiliations 

  • 1 Respiratory Unit, Department of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Respiratory Unit, Department of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia arabinose@hotmail.com
BMJ Case Rep, 2021 Feb 19;14(2).
PMID: 33608330 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2020-236116

Abstract

Indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) is the treatment of choice in managing symptomatic recurrent malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Loculated effusions following insertion may occur due to infection, catheter malfunction or the inflammatory nature of MPE. Loculations may lead to ineffective drainage and make the IPC non-functional. We report a 56-year-old man with symptomatic loculated malignant pleural effusion with an IPC, successfully drained with a single dose of 1 mg recombinant tissue plasminogen activator alteplase. This is the lowest dose currently applied in our centre for efficient drainage and improvement of dyspnoea.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.