A 25-year-old patient with spontaneous hemothorax

Pleural effusion secondary to endometriosis: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Endometriosis-associated pleural effusion is a rare occurrence with poorly defined clinical characteristics.

METHODS

A systematic review was performed to examine all articles on endometriosis-associated pleural effusion extracted from 4 databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus) from inception until November 2022.

RESULTS

A total of 142 articles (isolated cases and small retrospective series) involving 176 patients (median age 33 years) with endometriosis-associated pleural effusion were included. The most frequent symptoms were dyspnea (67%), chest pain (55%) and abdominal pain (40%). Pleural effusion was predominantly unilateral (89%), right-sided (88.5%) and massive (56%). Ascites was evident in 42% of the cases. Pleural fluid had a bloody appearance in 99% of cases and always met the exudate criteria. Pleural fluid cytology identified only 9% of the patients, with pleural biopsy being the most common diagnostic procedure (74%). Most patients were treated with hormones (76%), thoracic surgery (60%) and abdominal surgery (27%). Effusion recurrence was observed in 26% of cases after a median follow-up of 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of right-sided hemorrhagic pleural effusion in a young woman warrants an assessment for the possibility of endometriosis. Despite conventional treatment, effusion recurs in approximately a quarter of patients.

Endometriosis-Related Pleural Effusion: A Case Report and a PRISMA-Compliant Systematic Review

Background: Endometriosis-related pleural effusion (PE) is a relatively rare but treatable cause of bloody PE. The clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with endometriosis-related PE remain unknown.

Objectives: We present a case of endometriosis-related PE diagnosed on pleural fluid cytology. A systematic review of all endometriosis-related PE cases in literature was conducted to elucidate the clinical characteristics, explore the diagnostic yield of pathological examinations, and to summarize the outcomes of therapeutic approaches in this disease.

Methods: A case of endometriosis-related PE diagnosed in study hospital was reported. PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched for publications pertaining to cases of endometriosis-related PE using predefined search terms. This case and those identified from PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE were analyzed.

Results: A total of 67 patients were included. Catamential symptoms were presented in 30 (44.8%) patients. Dyspnea was presented in 50 patients (74.6%), followed by right chest/shoulder pain in 34 (50.7%) and cough in 18 (26.9%). 82.8% of the patients had concomitant pelvic endometriosis and 76.7% was infertile or nulliparous. The diagnostic yield of pleural fluid cytological examination, percutaneous pleural biopsy, and surgical biopsy was 9.0, 45.5, and 78.7%, respectively. The patients who received surgery-based therapy had a significantly longer time to relapse than those who received progestational agents or GnRH analogs alone (P = 0.025) or hysterectomy and bilateral salpingoophorectomy (HBSO) (P = 0.040).

Conclusions: High clinical awareness of pleural endometriosis is essential in all female with hemorrhagic PE, especially in young females who have infertility and/or pelvic endometriosis. Plerual fluid cytology might be a simple minimally invasive and cost-effective modality in the diagnosis of endometriosis-related PE. Treatment is challenging due to high recurrence and the optimal management of endometriosis-related PE needs further evaluation. The combined approach by surgery and hormonal therapy may achieve the best relapse-free survival.

Thoracic endometriosis: revisiting the association between clinical presentation and thoracic pathology based on thoracoscopic findings in 110 patients

Thoracic endometriosis (TE) is a rare disorder affecting women during their reproductive years. The etiopathogenesis of this disease is not well understood; the prevailing opinion is based on analysis obtained from case reports and small case series. A 1996 review of TE was not able to address the association between clinical presentation and thoracic pathology due to a paucity of thoracoscopic findings in these earlier cases. Since the year 2001, most published cases and series have included thoracoscopic findings. Therefore, we compiled data from case reports and case series published in English from January 2001 to July 2007 to analyze the demographics, clinical characteristics, and thoracoscopic findings, and to study the relationship between thoracoscopic findings and clinical presentation in patients with thoracic endometriosis. The clinical presentations in 110 patients were as follows: pneumothorax in 79 (72%), hemoptysis in 16 (14%), hemothorax in 13 (12%), and lung mass in 2 (2%). Ninety-one of the 110 (85%) patients underwent thoracotomy or thoracoscopy. The right hemithorax was more often affected (85%) than the left side (p = 0.008). The mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of all patients was 34 (7.6 yr). The mean age of patients presenting with hemoptysis (25.9 +/- 4.6 yr) was significantly lower than the age of those presenting with pneumothorax and hemothorax (p < 0.01). There was no significant association between the presence of diaphragmatic defects and pneumothorax (odds ratio [OR], 0.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05-1.58; p = 0.23). The presence of parietal and visceral pleural implants was associated with a fivefold increase in hemothorax (OR, 5.55; 95% CI, 1.20-25.53; p < 0.01).Hemoptysis occurring in younger subjects may be the earliest manifestation of parenchymal lung involvement in TE. Diaphragmatic defects do not increase the risk for pneumothorax. Hemothorax reflects an increased burden of pleural implants in TE.

[Thoracic endometriosis]

Thoracic endometriosis is defined by the presence of endometrial tissue in the lungs or pleura, and is characterised by cyclic hemoptysis or recurrent hemothorax or pneumothorax occurring with the menstruation. Being a rare clinical entity, it is not always considered in the differential diagnosis when these symptoms are evaluated. The exams performed during the diagnostic work-up frequently show nonspecific alterations, however a presumptive diagnosis can be made based on the typical clinical history. The key to the diagnosis are the catamenial symptoms, so a thorough clinical history is essential to promptly reach the correct diagnosis. Hormonal treatment and surgery are the two mainstays of therapy for this pathology. The authors present the case of a 27 year-old female patient presenting with cyclic hemoptysis during the menstruation. The diagnostic workup was inconclusive. Based on the clinical history, the diagnosis of pulmonary endometriosis was assumed and treatment was initiated with oral contraceptives with total resolution of symptoms. The authors make a brief review of the main symptoms, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of thoracic endometriosis.