Malignant transient pleural transudate: A sign of early lymphatic tumoral obstruction

In the absence of a responsible comorbid condition, the transudative charac ter of a pleural effusion in patients with malignancy does not imply a favo rable outcome. We report a case of colon carcinoma metastatic to lung and p leura presenting as a bilateral transudative pleural effusion. Tumoral diff use lymphatic permeation was identified as the cause of lymphatic obstructi on on pleural and transbronchial biopsies. The transudative character of th e pleural effusion was transient denoting its obstructive origin. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel.