Incidence of Pneumothorax after Thoracentesis and Factors Associated with its Occurrence

Abstract

Results: Fifty-seven patients with pleural effusion were included and they underwent a total of 62 thoracenteses. There were 3 incidents of pneumothorax, with a rate of 4.8% (Binomial exact 95% CI 1.0 13.5%). No associations can be made between patient-related and procedure-related risk factors and the occurrence of pneumothorax after thoracentesis because of the very small number of episodes of pneumothorax in this study.