Drainage of transudative pleural effusion: how does it affect weaning from mechanical ventilation?

Pleural collections of the transudative type occur frequently in patients who need mechanical ventilation (MV). Treatment of the etiology of the effusion takes a prolonged duration of time. The study intended to assess the effect of transudative effusion drainage through chest tube on the process of weaning from MV. No statistically significant difference was found between the two studied groups regarding age, sex, and comorbidities. Total duration of MV was significantly shorter in patients of group I compared with patients of group II (P = 0.002). Successful weaning from MV within 2 days after the start of the study was statistically significantly more achieved in patients of group I (56.7%) compared with patients of group II (23.3%) (P = 0.017). One and 3 days after beginning of the study, patients in group I showed a significant improvement in oxygenation as demonstrated by a statistically significantly higher value of PaO2/FiO2 ratio compared with patients of group II (P = 0.003 and 0.008, respectively). More work is needed to determine the physiological benefits of transudate pleural effusion drainage and the effect of the specific procedure on the clinical parameters. Further studies are needed to study different modalities or tools of drainage of transudate effusion and the effect of each on the different clinical outcomes in comparison with each other to reach the optimum way of drainage of transudate effusion with the best results and least complications.