Bilateral pleural effusions in congestive heart failure

Abstract

The salt-avid state that accounts for the clinical syndrome congestive heart failure (CHF) leads to an initial expansion of intra- and subsequent rise in extravascular volumes that can include the appearance of pleural effusion. Herein, we present a 54-year-old man with a dilated cardiomyopathy who was hospitalized because of his CHF, which included bilateral pleural effusions, right hydrothorax greater than left. The pathophysiology of pleural fluid formation in CHF, previously debated, has now reached consensus, albeit not frequently reviewed. This index case offers such an opportunity.