68-Year-Old Woman With Chronic Cough and Recurrent Pleural Effusions

Abstract

A 68-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, and liver transplant for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) presented with a 2-month history of cough and shortness of breath. Her cough, which had gradually worsened, progressed to dyspnea after several feet of walking. She denied fever, chills, sick contacts, chest pain, palpitations, orthopnea, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. She had taken levofloxacin for a presumed upper respiratory tract infection with no relief and was receiving oral immunosuppressive therapy with 1 mg/d of prednisone and 25 mg of cyclosporine twice daily. Her other medications included losartan, metoprolol, mesalamine, and alendronate. Although she had no history of cardiac problems, examination revealed a mildly elevated jugular venous pressure (JVP) and trace peripheral edema.

Case report: Severe dry cough associated with superior vena cava syndrome—Caused recurrent chylothorax

“…Fortunately for this case, thoracentesis, and pleural effusion analysis were performed immediately after the discovery of pleural effusion, which suggested that the cough symptoms were caused by chylothorax. We found another rare case report of chronic cough and recurrent pleural effusion ( 4 ). Similarly, in that case, the doctors performed chest radiography after excluding other common causes of cough and found pleural effusion.…”