A 33-Year-Old Man With Dyspnea, Chest Pain, and a Massive Pleural Effusion

Abstract

A 33-year-old white man presented to the ED with 1-month history of worsening dyspnea. He experienced gradual onset of right-sided scapular pain and shortness of breath on exertion that progressively worsened over the course of 1 month. He had a mild nonproductive cough and intermittent subjective fevers and reported weight loss of approximately 2 kg over 1 month. He had a history of two episodes of acute pancreatitis that was thought to be autoimmune in origin. He was a never smoker; he denied illicit drug use or recent alcohol consumption. He had no known TB exposure, but his mother had a history of sarcoidosis.