Table 2.
Comparison between patients with or without radiological clearance, drainage and reaccumulation of their pleural effusion⁎
| Clearance | No clearance | P | Drained | Not drained | P | Reaccumulation | No reaccumulation | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients | 243 (43%) | 323 (57%) | 52 (9%) | 514(91%) | 80 (33%) | 163 (67%) | |||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 63 ± 15 | 66± 14 | 0.017 | 62 ± 18 | 65 ± 14 | 0.18 | 64 ± 15 | 62 ± 16 | 0.59 |
| Mortality | 32 (13%) | 57 (18%) | 0.14 | 9(17%) | 80(16%) | 0.75 | 16(20%) | 17 (10%) | 0.037 |
| Effusion duration (days), median (IQR) | 1 (0–4) | 4(1–8) | < 0.0001 | 12 (4–18) | 2 (0–6) | < 0.0001 | 2 (0–7) | 1 (0–3) | 0.039 |
| Days, median (IQR) from: | |||||||||
| Diagnosis to clearance Diagnosis to drainage Clearance to reaccumulation | 3(1–5) | 7(2–11) | 4 (2–8) | ||||||
| Time from hospital admission to CXR diagnosis (days), median (IQR) | 3(1–7) | 2 (0–5) | 0.002 | 2 (1–7) | 2(1–5) | 0.6 | 3(1–7) | 2(1–5) | 0.08 |
| Admission length (days), median (IQR) | |||||||||
| Hospital | 20 (11–37) | 11(7–21) | < 0.0001 | 24 (17–42) | 14(8–24) | < 0.0001 | 30 (14–55) | 18(10–32) | < 0.0001 |
| ICU | 6 (3–11) | 3 (1–5) | < 0.0001 | 6 (3–10) | 4 (2–7) | 0.001 | 9 (5–19) | 5 (3–8) | < 0.0001 |
| Mechanical ventilation | 201 (83%) | 229 (71 %) | 0.001 | 42 (81%) | 388 (76%) | 0.4 | 71 (89%) | 132 (81%) | 0.09 |
| Duration (hours), median (IQR) | 27 (9–140) | 14 (2–60) | 0.008 | 93 (13–250) | 19 (5–121) | < 0.0001 | |||
| CRRT | 58 (24%) | 38 (12%) | < 0.0001 | 10 (19%) | 86 (17%) | 0.65 | 30 (38%) | 28 (17%) | < 0.0001 |
| Effusion confirmation with another imaging modality | 86 (35%) | 112 (35%) | 0.86 | 44 (85%) | 1 54 (30%) | < 0.0001 | 44 (55%) | 42 (26%) | < 0.0001 |
| CT abdomen pelvis | 35 (14%) | 31 (10%) | 0.08 | 11 (21%) | 55(11%) | 0.025 | 24 (30%) | 11 (7%) | < 0.0001 |
| CT chest | 46 (19%) | 67 (21%) | 0.59 | 28 (54%) | 85 (17%) | < 0.0001 | 20 (25%) | 26 (16%) | 0.08 |
| US chest | 19 (8%) | 32 (10%) | 0.39 | 27 (52%) | 24 (5%) | < 0.0001 | 13 (16%) | 6 (4%) | 0.001 |
| US abdomen | 6 (3%) | 8 (3%) | 1.00 | 1 (2%) | 13 (3%) | 0.79 | 3 (4%) | 3 (2%) | 0.4 |
| Drained other than post-operative drains | 26 (11 %) | 26 (8%) | 0.28 | 15 (19%) | 11 (7%) | 0.004 | |||
| Post-operative drain | 52 (21%) | 81 (25%) | 0.31 | 19 (24%) | 114 (24%) | 0.95 | |||
| Reaccumulation | 80 (33%) | < 0.0001 | 15(29%) | 65 (13%) | 0.001 |
CT = computed tomography; CXR = chest x-ray; CRRT = continuous renal replacement therapy; ICU = intensive care unit; IQR = interquartile range; SD = standard deviation; US = ultrasound.
⁎
Drained pleural effusion group does not include routine post-operative drains inserted at the time of operation.