bilateral pleural effusion

[biowham]

Anyone with any experience with this? My neuro just called yesterday and left me a message that in reviewing my t-spine MRI, he noticed that I have bilateral pleural effusion (lungs). He called a pulmonologist, and I have to get a chest CT ASAP. I have two areas in my t-spine right over the lungs/heart line with spinal compression, which is ventral AND dorsal.

Thanks,
Emily

[sllowe]

Good luck to you biowham! I pray upon further look, they find out what is going on, and that is something that can be "fixed." Someone needs to look at what you have collectively and map out a plan!

I pray this happens soon,
be well,
SL

[LLWB]

Heh, we must be sisters too! I have a T-8 bulging disc.Gee, the neuro couldn't begin to tell me why. Any ideas? I have fibro, DDD, type 2 diabetes, 1 lesion in brain, and on and on (Not ON) I always have to do stuff the hard way. They won't operate on thoracic compressions either, unless absolutly necessary. Have to go in from front, cut thru ribs, etc. Bet that's a real treat. Hope you're feeling better.

[JonM]

Pleural effusions can be caused by a wide variety of different diseases and conditions.  The more common ones are congestive heart failure, pneumonia, a pulmonary embolism, or a malignancy.  I bet it turns out you really don't have one.  Get it checked out.

[biowham]

I am a complete mystery. My sister thinks I was born to defy statistical odds because I do it all the time. My latest example is the thoracic compression; it's at T6 and T8. Tspine herniated discs are rare (<1% or even rarer), and even more rare are Tspine herniations above T9, and even more rare are multiple tspine herniations.

I've got a nice 1-cm scarring on the vertebral body right where the upper herniation is; the NR described this as resulting from a "benign process." But I'm now wondering about that.

Also have dorsal compression, in addition to the ventral compression. Shows up clearly on axial sections. Laminar? What is that?

My ANAs were normal, as was sed rate.

I have a heart murmur. Isn't this entertaining? Who knows what the hell is going on.

My guess right now is either cancer or some kind of autoimmune connective tissue disease.

Which leads me to ask: can NRs tell the difference between metatstases and WMLs in the brain? If so, how? I have no mass effect with my lesions.

E

[Quixotic1]

To my knowledge there would be no relationship between MS and pleural effusions.  However, these are seen with some frequency in some of the inflammatory, autoimmune diseases.  The one that I have seen them in is Lupus.

I'm not a neurosurgeon, but I cannot see a mechanism that would link the effusions with the thoracic compression, but this is not an area of expertise for me.  I'm often surprised at how little I know.

Please keep us posted.  You're more of a mystery every day!

Quix