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Although pleural manometry is a relatively simple medical procedure it is only occasionally used to follow pleural pressure (Ppl) changes during a therapeutic thoracentesis and pneumothorax drainage. As some studies showed that pleural pressure monitoring might be associated with significant advantages, pleural manometry has been increasingly evaluated in the last decade. The major clinical applications of pleural pressure measurements include: the prevention of complications associated with large volume thoracentesis, diagnosis and differentiation between various types of an unexpandable lung and a possible prediction of the efficacy of chest tube drainage in patients with spontaneous pneumothorax. It is well known that the therapeutic thoracentesis might be complicated by cough, chest discomfort, and rarely, by a life threatening condition called reexpansion pulmonary edema (RPE). The serious adverse events of thoracentesis are related to pleural pressure drop rather than to the volume of removed pleural effusion. The use of pleural manometry during pleural fluid withdrawal enables the evaluation of the relationship between withdrawn pleural fluid volume, pleural pressure changes and procedure related complications. Pleural pressure measurement is also an important tool to study the different mechanism of pneumothorax complicating the thoracentesis. Pleural manometry is critical for measurement of pleural elastance, diagnosis of an unexpandable lung and differentiation between trapped lung and lung entrapment. This usually has significant clinical implications in terms of further management of patients with pleural effusion. The paper is a comprehensive review presenting different aspects of pleural pressure measurement in clinical practice., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Subatmospheric pleural pressure (Ppl), which is approximately -3 to -5 cmH 2 O at functional residual capacity (FRC) makes pleura a unique organ in the human body. The negative Ppl is critical for maintaining the lungs in a properly inflated state and for proper blood circulation within the thorax. Significant and sudden pleural pressure changes associated with major pleural pathologies, as well as therapeutic interventions may be associated with life-threatening complications. The pleural pressure may show two different values depending on the measurement method applied. These are called pleural liquid pressure and pleural surface pressure. It should also be realized that there are significant differences in pleural pressure distribution in pneumothorax and pleural effusion. In pneumothorax, the pressure is the same throughout the pleural space, while in pleural effusion there is a vertical gradient of approximately 1 cm H 2 O/cm in the pleural pressure associated with the hydrostatic pressure of the fluid column. Currently, two main methods of pleural pressure measurement are used: simple water manometers and electronic systems. The water manometers are conceptually simple, cheap and user-friendly but they only allow the estimation of the mean values of pleural pressure. The electronic systems for pleural pressure measurement are based on pressure transducers. Their major advantages include precise measurements of instantaneous pleural pressure and the ability to display and to store a large amount of data. The paper presents principles and details of pleural pressure measurement as well as the rationale for its use., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)