ACUTE MASSIVE POSTOPERATIVE PLEURAL EFFUSION ASSOCIATED WITH ASYMPTOMATIC HEPATITIS C-INDUCED CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER

The development of an acute pleural effusion during the immediate post operative period after abdominal or pelvic surgery is not uncommon. In symptomatic patients, pleural effusions often are thought to result f rom a complication of pulmonary embolism or parapneumonic effusion. We present a patient in whom an acute unilateral hepatic hydrothorax dev eloped after elective total abdominal hysterectomy. Pleural effusion c ontinued to reaccumulate for several days. After extensive efforts fai led to reveal the cause of effusion, intraperitoneal radioisotope stud y confirmed a peritoneopleural communication associated with unsuspect ed and asymptomatic hepatitis C-induced cirrhosis of the liver with po rtal hypertension.