Narayan Pandit
BACKGROUND Abnormal accumulation of fluid in the pleural space is called pleural effusion. In this study, an attempt has been made to arrive at the diagnostic accuracy of lateral decubitus chest radiograph to detect mild pleural effusion with comparison to transthoracic ultrasonography keeping the spleen and liver as acoustic window. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was carried out in the Department of Radio-diagnosis, North Bengal Medical College, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. In this study, 50 male patients having mild pleural effusion detected by USG, have undergone lateral decubitus chest radiograph in a specially designed table. RESULTS In this study, detection rate of pleural effusion by lateral decubitus chest radiograph in comparison to USG is 72%. CONCLUSION Transthoracic USG being a low cost, radiation hazard free method is much more preferable to lateral decubitus chest radiography for diagnosing mild pleural effusion.
