Does pleurisy cause chest pain?

Written by Wang Chun Mei
Pulmonology
Updated on September 06, 2024
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Pleurisy can cause anterior chest pain. It is a very common clinical disease, mostly caused by bacterial invasion of the pleura resulting in inflammatory lesions, with Mycobacterium tuberculosis being the most common pathogen. Due to inflammatory exudation, some patients may also experience varying degrees of pleural effusion. The clinical symptoms presented by patients mainly include fever, cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and chest pain. In severe cases, different levels of breathing difficulties and other clinical symptoms may occur. Therefore, it is very common for patients with pleurisy to experience anterior chest pain.

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Written by Luo Peng
Thoracic Surgery
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Can you exercise with pleurisy?

Whether or not a patient with pleurisy can exercise should be determined based on the individual's specific condition. For mild pleurisy without pleural effusion and severe pain, exercise is permissible. However, if pleural effusion is present, it should be drained or aspirated first, after which exercise can be encouraged. Exercise should be moderate, as it can help absorb the pleural effusion, which is beneficial for the patient. Additionally, if pleurisy causes severe pain, it is best to minimize movement to avoid exacerbating the pain.

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Written by Wang Chun Mei
Pulmonology
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Is it normal to have pain in the later stages of pleurisy?

Pleurisy is very common in clinical settings, caused by various pathogens invading the pleural cavity, leading to an inflammatory response. Most pleurisy patients are mainly afflicted due to infections by the tuberculosis bacillus, thus pleurisy typically comes with varying degrees of effusion, leading to different degrees of adhesion in the pleural cavity. Therefore, even during the acute phase of pleurisy, patients may suffer from symptoms such as coughing, fever, chest pain, breathlessness, and difficulty breathing. Even after effective medicinal treatment of pleurisy and full recovery, patients may still experience varying degrees of chest pain later on, primarily due to various degrees of pleural adhesion. During physical exertion or coughing, this can lead to varying degrees of chest pain, a very common occurrence.

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Written by Wang Chun Mei
Pulmonology
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Does pleural calcification easily turn into cancer?

Pleurisy is a very common type of inflammatory lesion clinically. There are many factors that cause pleurisy, and it is generally seen in young and middle-aged males, mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection of the pleural cavity. If the pleurisy is tuberculous, it is usually treated with effective anti-tuberculosis medications systematically, which typically requires a course of 6 to 9 months. After complete recovery from pleurisy, many patients may show varying degrees of calcification spots in the pleural cavity. Generally, these calcification spots after recovery from pleurisy do not easily become cancerous.

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Written by Yuan Qing
Pulmonology
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Is pleurisy calcification dangerous?

Pleural calcification generally poses no major danger. It is typically a result of incomplete treatment of pleuritis or prolonged illness that delays the disease management, causing the disease to progress and the pleura to develop adhesions, leading to the deposition of calcium salts on the pleura and resulting in calcification. Depending on the extent of this pleural calcification, if severe, it may affect lung expansion and thereby reduce respiratory function. However, most cases do not exhibit significant symptoms. Moreover, it does not greatly impact the patient's life or quality of life. Therefore, when such calcification is observed, it is generally recommended that the patient be advised to attend regular follow-up checks. It does not necessarily cause any special symptoms, so there is no need for concern.

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Written by Li Hu Chen
Imaging Center
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Post-pleurisy chest X-ray presentation

Patients with pleurisy, after their recovery, often exhibit certain signs on chest X-rays, such as thickening and adhesion of the pleura, and blunting of the costophrenic angle. These conditions commonly arise because diseases like pleurisy might have a somewhat extended duration or are not detected timely, lacking prompt medical treatment. Hence, pleural thickening is prone to occur, visible on X-rays at the lung margins, where localized soft tissue density appears slightly thicker. Normally, the edge of the lung at the costophrenic angle would be quite sharp, but after pleural thickening, this angle becomes blunted or even rounded. In some cases, encapsulated effusions might be seen on a chest X-ray as a spindle-shaped high-density shadow near the chest wall, which appears as a notably bright shadow.