What Is a Pleural Effusion and How Does it Affect Mesothelioma Patients?

[MUSIC PLAYING] A pleural fusion is fluid that forms from the pleural lining, secreting usually as a blockage or as a result of mesothelioma in the pleural lining, that causes pain and pressure along the chest wall. So patients with fluid outside of the lung, otherwise known as pleural effusion, will develop two things. From the compression onto the chest wall, there's a bunch of nerves there, the intercostal nerves. So they'll often present with chest pain. And it's often severe enough to be on narcotics for a long period of time. And then the other more common that they get is that the fluid itself, since it's on the outside of the lung from the mesothelium, which is on the outer layer, it actually compresses the lung, like pushing it in. So instead of a grape, a nice lung, it's like a little raisin and shriveled up. And so patients, when they do try to take a deep breath, especially with exertion-- you really notice it with pleural effusions when they're walking uphill. They'll often say, when I walk uphill, I get really short of breath because the lung is trying to expand past that, and it can't, because the fluid is compressing it. So that's really the two manifestations that we see from pleural effusion. That is the main sign that you'll see that something's awry that there could be mesothelioma is seeing that fluid around the lung. [MUSIC PLAYING]