CHOLESTEROL-THORAX IN TUBERCULOSIS (CHOLESTEROL PLEURISY)

Abstract

The accumulation of fluid in the pleural cavities is a common condition, a number of interesting types having been encountered, and in all probability the rarest of these is that known as cholesterol pleurisy or sometimes spoken of as cholesterol-thorax. Cholesterol is constantly found in the tissues and is also rather uniformly found in all pleural effusions, but in the latter it is practically always present as an ethereal salt. The majority of writers on this subject agree that the condition should be defined as an effusion that is rich in cholesterol in crystalline form, and further, that the total amount of cholesterol in the effusion may be high or low, the amount not always determining the form in which it is found. In some cases reported the total amount of cholesterol has been high and in others there has been much less, but in all instances one should be