The Effect of the Extents of Pleural Thickening in Tuberculous Pleurisy on the Impairment of Pulmonary Function

Background : Tuberculous pleurisy treatments improve symptoms such as fever, chest pain, cough, and prevents the progression to active pulmonary tuberculosis and the development of residual pleural thickening that decrease diaphragm and rib cage movement This study investigated how the degree of residual pleural thickening affects the pulmonary function. Methods : Fifty seven patients who were initially diagnosed as having tuberculous pleurisy, were treated with anti-tuberculous medication for 6 months and had residual pleural thickening between May 1998 and January 2000 at the Eulji university hospital were reviewed. A chest X-ray and pulmonary function test(PFT, Sensormedics 2200) were performed. The predicted value(%) of the forced vital capacity(FVC), forced inspiratory vital capacity(FNC) and total lung capacity(TLC) were measured. The residual pleural thickening was defined the average of the summation in the lateral chest at the level of the imaginary line intersecting from the cardiophrenic angle to the diaphragmatic dome and the lowest part of the costophrenic angle between them. The results were sorted into three grades according to pleural thickness