Unilateral Effusions and Thoracentesis

Bilateral effusions make us think of transidative causes. Exidative effusions are usually caused by changes in vascular permeability or impaired lymphatic brainage in the pleural space. For most patients with unilateral effusions that I don't know what it's from, I'll generally lean towards thoracentesis as long as there's a reasonable pocket and no particular reason I think they're going to be super high risk.