What to Expect on a Chest X-Ray With a Poor Little Fusion

Bilateral effusions usually result from a systemic process causing an increase in the pulmonary hydrostatic pressure gradient or a decrease in the oncotic pressure gradient. This includes diseases like I mentioned earlier, heart failure, liver failure, kidney disease, as well as malnutrition leading to low albumin levels. Patients with bilateral pleural effusions can have inflammatory causes and patients may also have a unilateral effusion due to volume overload.