TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Thoracentesis A1 - Juarez, Marianne A1 - Nemer, Jacqueline A2 - Reichman, Eric F. PY - 2018 T2 - Reichman's Emergency Medicine Procedures, 3e AB - Thoracentesis is a term derived from the Greek meaning “to pierce the chest.” It is used today to refer to the removal of air or fluid from the thoracic cavity. Hippocrates first described thoracentesis in the management of an empyema.1 Thoracentesis was widely used in World War II and the Korean conflict in lieu of a thoracotomy for chest drainage. This practice was replaced by tube thoracostomy by the time of the Vietnam War. Thoracentesis is used today in the diagnosis and therapy of pleural effusions, as an emergent and temporizing treatment of a tension pneumothorax, and in the management of small nontraumatic pneumothoraces.1-4 Thoracentesis is generally indicated to aid in the evaluation and management of the underlying etiology in newly discovered pleural effusions. Accumulation of pleural fluid is not a specific diagnosis but rather a reflection of an underlying process. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/28 UR - accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1159797318 ER -