Hepatic Hydrothorax in Patients with Decompensated Cirrhosis in Zagazig University Hospitals: A Cross-sectional and Single Center Study

Background and Study Aim: Hepatic hydrothorax is the presence of more than 500 ml of pleural effusion in a patient with liver disorder. The work aimed to study the frequency of Hepatic hydrothorax in patients with decompensated cirrhosis admitted to the Tropical Medicine department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University (inpatients, outpatient and intensive care unit) trying to determine the frequency of this disorder.

Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 208 decompensated cirrhotic patients (112 males and 96 females), their ages ranged from 27 to73 years old (53.8±7.09) between April 2013 to April 2014. Which were randomly divided into Group I included 182 decompensated cirrhotic patients without pleural effusion and Group II included 26 cirrhotic patients with pleural effusion. Clinical assessment, laboratory evaluation, plain chest x-ray and diagnostic paracentesis and pleurocentesis for cytological, biochemical analysis and bacteriological, biochemical and bacteriological analysis were carried out.

Results: In this study; the frequency of pleural effusion in decompensated cirrhotic patients was 26/208 cases with a percentage of (12.5%) Also, this work showed (76.9%) of pleural effusion patients had effusion on right side, (15.4%) on left side, and (7.7%) have bilateral pleural effusion. This study showed; (23.1%) of cases with pleural effusion had mild effusion, (46.1%) had moderate effusion and (30.8%) had massive effusion.

Conclusion: Hepatic hydrothorax is an uncommon complication of advanced liver disease. In this study; the frequency of pleural effusion in decompensated cirrhotic patients was (12.5%), the majority of patients with hepatic hydrothorax were in child (C) 61.5%.