A Case of Posttraumatic Pleural Effusion with Peripheral Eosinophilia.

Kim, Jong Hun; Kim, Young Saeng; Ku, Bon Ho; Choi, Yu Kyung; Kim, Do Hoon; Chin, Jae Yong; Oh, Mi Jung

doi:2008.64.5.379

Tuberc Respir Dis > Volume 64(5); 2008 > Article

Case Report

Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases 2008;64(5):379-382.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4046/trd.2008.64.5.379 Published online May 1, 2008.

A Case of Posttraumatic Pleural Effusion with Peripheral Eosinophilia.

Jong Hun Kim, Young Saeng Kim, Bon Ho Ku, Yu Kyung Choi, Do Hoon Kim, Jae Yong Chin, Mi Jung Oh

Department of Internal Medicine, Bundang Jesaeng General Hospital, Seongnam, Korea. mjoh@dmc.or.kr

Abstract

Eosinophilic pleural effusions (EPE) are defined as those effusions that contain at least 10% eosinophils, and EPE can be associated with peripheral blood eosinophilia in a variety of systemic diseases. There have been a few cases that have addressed the association of peripheral blood eosinophilia and posttraumatic EPE, and this condition can be misdiagnosed as being the result of other causes due to the delayed presentation. We report here on a case of 47-year-old male who presented with eosinophilic pleural effusion associated with peripheral blood eosinophilia at 2 months after minor chest trauma. We excluded the other possible causes such as consumption of drugs, parasite infection, malignancy, diseases of pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration, autoimmune diseases and pulmonary thromboembolism. We observed his clinical course without specific treatment. Three months later, the pleural effusion completely disappeared and the number of peripheral eosinophils returned to normal.

Key Words: Pleural effusion, Eosinophilia, Trauma