plueral catheter

Lisa9897 · New User Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 5 Location: missouri

What should we expect to see from week to week drained from a pleural catheter? What changes should we watch for? The last drain the nurse called "rasberry tea." It has gotten lighter each time and the amounts has began to decrease. Any inputs from your own experience would be great. Also, the surgeon said these rarely are ever taken out.

brainman · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: plueral catheter

Hi Lisa,

There is really no way to predict what you should expect in the future. It normally does get lighter in color and decreases in volume. But it can go back and forth. So much depends on the cancer itself. The best source for a answer to your question is your medical team or the medical team of the patient... I assume you are not the patient.

God bless you and yours.
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pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1302

Jim is right, the medical team will be doing the assessments. A good sign is that the pleural effusion is slowing down. Never done the pleurex catheters, but have plenty of pleural effusion issues for my husband. Has the fluid been tested for cancer cells? Hopefully the effusion will calm down for the patient.

PBJ

Lisa9897 · New User Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 5 Location: missouri

Thanks for your reply, actually I just now found it...kinda new to this forum. The fluid was tested while he was in the hospital, nothing was said about it though. Not too much is told to us without us asking, sometimes we don't really know what to ask...but we are learning. The home-health nurse comes twice a week now and drains the catheter. They get about 500ml each time and the nurse called it "raspberry ice tea" color last time. From what I understand, the fluid comes from the tumor. But they didn't tell us that until we asked.
Thanks,
Lisa9897

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1302

Lisa,

Hmmm... some of the fluid can come from the tumor itself, I guess.

My understanding is that pleural effusion results from lung irritation due to tumor activity, reaction to chemo, or radiation. The body reacts by fluid retention in the pleural area between the outside of the lung and the pleural wall. They usually do test the fluid for cancer cells at some point.

My husband has a lot of effusion issues, but has never tested positive for cancer cells in the fluid. Not having the cancer cells in the fluid is good -- it means the cancer is still contained within the lung or lungs and not running all over the place. The red tinge to the fluid probably is blood from the tumor itself. The less blood, the better. My husband had a thoracentesis last week to one side and the fluid was quite bloody, but wasn't malignant. They think he may be doing a slow bleed from a tumor eroding or growing into a blood vein. We'll see. The other side was tapped yesterday and the fluid was yellowish.

Is the patient on Hospice at this time or being actively treated?

Best wishes,
PBJ

Lisa9897 · New User Joined: 17 Oct 2006 Posts: 5 Location: missouri

The homehealth nurse came to drain his catheter yesteray and to her surprise they only got 350 ml. He had been getting 1200 ml or so for the past fews times. What do you think this means? They were even able to hear air for the first time since this long ordeal has begun. I was really surprised the amounts could change so much in such a short time. Any feedback would be great.

pbj11 · Site Admin Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1302

Lisa,

I'd take that as a good sign. The last bout of pleural effusions my husband had took 9 months to simmer down. The lower the amount, the less the lungs are being irritated. For us that was a good thing and meant the lungs were healthier and chemo was doing it's job.

Good luck for continued success with the fluid amounts.

PBJ

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