TABLE 1.

Inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria	Exclusion criteria
1) Age between 18 and 85 years	1) Patients with non-malignant effusion
2) Moderate to severe pleural effusion occupying at least one-third of the ipsilateral hemithorax in P-A chest radiograph (CXR)	2) patients with very small amounts of pleural effusion
3) No contraindications for therapeutic thoracocentesis	3) patients on mechanical ventilation
4) General health condition allowing prolonged therapeutic thoracocentesis 1) procedure	4) patients on anti-coagulant therapy
5) Patients with malignant pleural effusion are proven by pleural cytology or radiological criteria for malignancy (13).	5) non-free-flowing effusions
	6) inability to maintain a seated position for the procedure
	7) patients refusing to be subjected to thoracocentesis