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An incentive spirometer is a handheld medical device used to help patients improve the functioning of their lungs. By training patients to take slow and deep breaths, this simplified spirometer facilitates lung expansion and strengthening. Patients inhale through a mouthpiece, which causes a piston inside the device to rise.
A pleural effusion is accumulation of excessive fluid in the pleural space, the potential space that surrounds each lung.Under normal conditions, pleural fluid is secreted by the parietal pleural capillaries at a rate of 0.6 millilitre per kilogram weight per hour, and is cleared by lymphatic absorption leaving behind only 5–15 millilitres of fluid, which helps to maintain a functional ...
[4] [5] Variability in categorising small-cell lung cancer as limited or extensive occurs with reference to the extent of pleural effusion and nodal stations involvement. [4] [8] In addition, patients with an ipsilateral pleural effusion are frequently excluded from the limited-disease category.
Malignant pleural effusion is a condition in which cancer causes an abnormal amount of fluid to collect between the thin layers of tissue lining the outside of the lung and the wall of the chest cavity. [1] Lung cancer and breast cancer account for about 50-65% of malignant pleural effusions.
Pleural effusion involving fibrinous exudates in the fluid may be called fibrinous pleurisy, which sometimes occurs as a later stage of pleurisy. A person can develop a pleural effusion in the absence of pleurisy. For example, pneumonia, heart failure, cancer, or a pulmonary embolism can lead to a pleural effusion.
On radiological studies, a pleural pseudotumor is visualized as a biconcave or lenticular lesion using conventional chest x-rays and CT scans. The lesion is most commonly located in the minor (horizontal) fissure of the lung. A pleural pseudotumor is also associated with the presence of dependent pleural effusions. [9]
Pleural tumors may be benign (i.e. solitary fibrous tumor) or malignant in nature. Pleural mesothelioma is a type of malignant cancer associated with asbestos exposure. Under most other circumstances, pleural cancers are secondary malignancies associated with lung cancer due to its nearby location or as metastasis such as with breast cancer.
Lung squamous-cell carcinoma is the second most common histologic type of lung cancer after adenocarcinoma, reaching 22.6% of all lung cancer cases as of 2012. [11] The relative incidence of the former has been steadily decreasing in favor of the latter due to the decreasing smoking rates in the last few years. [9]