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PleurX catheter for pleural effusions: Has anyone used it?
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Somya.P
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Somya.P
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Hi @Gordon, how are you doing?
Thank you so much for starting this conversation. It really sounds like you’ve been through a lot over the past few months, and moving forward with a PleurX catheter must have come with a lot of consideration. Your post will no doubt help others who are facing similar decisions. To help gather more responses, I’ve also tagged a few members for better reach and updated the title to make it clearer and easier to find for anyone searching for this topic. 💙
For those who may not be familiar, a PleurX catheter is a small, flexible tube inserted into the chest to help drain excess fluid around the lungs. It can offer more independence and help reduce the need for repeated hospital visits for those living with recurrent pleural effusions.
Here are a few questions to get the discussion going:
❓ Have you or someone you know used a PleurX catheter to manage pleural effusions? What was the experience like?
❓ Were there any challenges with maintaining the catheter at home or accessing the supplies you needed?
❓ Looking back, what would you say were the biggest benefits or drawbacks of having the catheter?
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Let’s come together and support Gordon with your insights, experiences, or even just a kind word. 💬
Looking forward to hearing from you all!
Somya from the Carenity Team 🌼
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Gordon
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Gordon
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@Somya.P
So I went in to the hospital this morning for the placement of the PleurX Chest Catheter for my recurring Pleural Effusions. After checking in and reviewing with the attending Dr. we decided not to proceed with the placement of that catheter but to just drain the fluid (Thoracentesis) for several reasons. They drained nearly a liter of fluid again and gave me recommendations for a new Pulmonologist (My Pulmo's clinic closed out last week). Going forward I will need to schedule Monthly (or whatever the frequency needs are) draining as out patient at the hospital. This will eliminate the need for the indwelling catheter, the cost and bother with the necessary supplies, and trips to the E.R. with hospital stays for something that can be done as out patient and set up on a routine schedule...and no catheter.
So no more searching for people with experience of the PleurX Indwelling Chest Cather, where to get support and supplies, and the good, bad, and indifferent issues with them.
According to the Interventional Radiologist Doctor who was scheduled to place this catheter, he advised that this procedure is normally for more critical or terminal patients, commonly with cancer causing the fluid accumulation in the pleural space. Additionally, these catheters build up scar tissue and webbing causing the need to replace them with only 6 months or so of use. Since I am not terminal and the root cause is not any form of cancer, we opted for the simpler Thoracentesis today and regular out patient scheduling going forward.
Thank you again Somya for your support and assistance in this with me.
Gordon
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Gordon Harvey
Gordon
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Gordon
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@Somya.P
So to fast forward to now after my prior posts on this, I have been in the hospital a total of 7 times since November 2024 to have the pleural effusions drained. After my last posting, the insurance company closed my COPD Clinic and laid off my Pulmonologist. Trying to reestablish services with my prior Pulmonologist, but his next available appointment is not until the end of August. That being said, scheduling the recurring Thoracentesis was never done since I am between Pulmonologists and my PCP will not or cannot act on anything Pulmonology related. So last Monday with my saturation dropping to 65% upon minor exertion and running out of supplemental O2 while out at doctor appointments, I ended up back in the ER and quickly admitted into the hospital for another stay. This time for 9 days and 8 nights, getting released late yesterday afternoon.
On Tuesday my Cardiologist's NP came to see me and discuss options. The following day, she came back with my Cardiologist who had scheduled me for a right heart chamber pressure test via catheter through a neck vane and into the heart for testing that same day. Since the doctors still don't know what is causing the fluid accumulation and have previously tested my heart function in all other ways.
On Wednesday after the heart Catheter, a Cardiothoracic Surgeon sent by the hospital admitting doctor came to discuss the option of the Pleurodesis since the Pleurx Catheter and recurring, scheduled Thoracenteses procedure weren't happening. This was scheduled for the following morning along with the video assisted thorascopy and pleural biopsy. The fluid was removed by way of a chest tube, which I inadvertently ripped out a day or so later while trying to sit up for the bedside x-ray tech. Since I received the morphine shots every 3 hours, I heard the pop more than felt it. The Saturday evening emergency response team came in, reviewed with the doctors and they decided to just seal it up and leave it out. This process had already drained the 7th liter of fluid since November.
So yesterday, Tuesday afternoon, they released me to wait on biopsy results and follow up appointments with the surgeon, my PCP, my Cardiologist, Nephrologist, and now a home care nurse too! No more Morphine but I nave ample supply of codeine for as needed with the pain. That is not only from the chest tube but also from the Pleurodesis. The main drawback of gluing your lung to the pleural cavity...
Now if they can only find the cause for the effusions and start treating that and not just treating symptoms.
Gordon
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Mexicanpiloto
Mexicanpiloto
Last activity on 07/03/2025 at 5:25 PM
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My wife was taken to the hospital with suspected.Lung cancer and had pleural effusion and they drained out a liter with thorocentesis procedure. The fluid was tested for cancer and found to be negative. But they still suspected cancer. They then did a biopsy.The following week there was another liter taken out of the plueral cavity. At this point the doctor decided to put in the plurex catheter.. I'm sure a lot of people find satisfaction from this.But this is the biggest nightmare in the world.For my wife, it hurt like a bee Sting all the time. Hurt much worse than the cancer She ended up having and had to take morphine to sleep at night because of the pain. And no fluid was ever drained out of it sgain after two tries. My wife has since passed away.But the plurex catheter was an absolute nightmare in her final days.She begged me to get it out of her all the time but the doctor's would not do it because she was in hospice at this time.I was very dissatisfied. She thought it would have been far better.Just to have fluid drained out with multiple thorocentisis procedures. And we were also barraged with sales calls wanting to reorder the canisters.
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Gordon
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@Mexicanpiloto Our sincere condolences for you loss. And thank you for your valuable input on this subject matter.
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Gordon Harvey
Mexicanpiloto
Mexicanpiloto
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@Gordon Thank you.
Very much.My wife did comment that she would rather have.The fluid removed by thorocentedis as often as necessary rather than be stuck with that plurex catheter in her. The pain didn't disappear until they covered it up with morphine. When she entered hospice , it was that bad. And when they didn't drain anything out after two tries , they sent her down for a cat scan to see if everything was in the proper place and it was , but they wouldn't take it out.
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@Somya.P
So now nearly 2 weeks since the pleurodesis and biopsy of the Pleural area. No results yet for the biopsy and no relief for the SOP formerly caused by the Pleural Effusions. I am now 100% reliant on the supplemental oxygen. 4-lpm just sitting idle and 6-lpm just walking to the kitchen. I also now carry a second oxygen tank with me any time we leave the house, just in case. Just going out to a doctor appointment is a major challenge. Had the hospital follow up with my PCP this morning. We got there ok, will little trouble. His office is on the second floor of a medical building where the ground floor is a hospital emergency room. We entered the building to find a notice on the elevator that it was out of order...Stood there for a moment looking at the elevator and adjacent stairwell, and back and forth. The out of order sign did advise of another elevator within the emergency room area to use, which we opted for. Back to the car and parked close to the ER entrance. Upon entry, we found the lobby empty and quiet. I sat in the waiting area as my wife went to look for the elevator. Moments later, she came back with a CNA and wheelchair in tow! They loaded me into the wheelchair then off to the elevator and up to the second floor for my appointment. Was able to update my PCP on this latest hospitalization, prescription changes and the Pleurodesis procedure, and then asked him to send in the prescription to my DME for my own wheelchair for moments like this.
Tomorrow is the follow up with the surgeon to hopefully learn more about the healing process, the biopsy, and expectations for timing of breathing with a fuller breath. I have the incentive spirometer at home which I use several times per day, but see no improvement yet. Since released from the hospital I also have an at home care nurse to come in every week, as well as a physical therapist and occupational therapist visiting weekly. There have been no therapy sessions and do not foresee any in the near future, only evaluations until I can move around with acceptable oxygen saturation levels.
Gordon
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CarolSchmidt
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GSKForYou | GSK Patient Assistance Program
Learn how our program can assist you if you need help paying for your GlaxoSmithKline prescription medicines and vaccines, whether you have coverage or not.
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CarolSchmidt
@KathyA, please read what I wrote above on using oxygen. I am so, so, thrilled to have portable oxygen that gave me more of my life back. I was told in 2011 when I lived in San Miguel de Allende at 6,400 ft altitude that I needed to go on oxygen, but all I saw around town was one woman with the heavy metal canisters in a cart behind her, and that looked terrible. I moved back to near sea level and put off needing oxygen all day for another seven years, just a Bipap at night.
Finally I was huffing and having to stop every few feet even near sea level, but I still didn't want to be lugging a heavy canister behind me. I ran into an old friend who was always really active, ballroom dancing, hiking, fly fishing in rivers. And there she was with an Inogen in a backpack, doing everything she'd always done!
She showed me all about hers and the total package with machine, extra 8-hour battery, two battery chargers for house and car, carrying case, and extended warranty, was around $3,300!
Finally I saved enough for it and have loved it every minute since. I started on 2 for almost a year but had to go to 3 for every day. I switch to 4 liters a minute several times a day when I still get winded bad, and have gone up to 5 for stair climbing. I worry that I will need to go higher than 5 eventually, but I hope by then there will be sronger machines developed that go higher, though then the $500 batteries only last a few hours before needing recharging, instead of 6-8.
The portable ones now are breath-operated--you have to be breathing into the nose cannula for them to work. And my BiPap at night requires continuous flow, which the big oxygen machine Medicare covers provides, so I need both machines. Some day they may all be continuous flow and still portable.
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cbholder3
@Thakera Yes, even on Medicare it was $400+ a month. My Pulmonologist arranged for me to get it with no copay from GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, you can look up their assistance program at https://www.gskforyou.com/ Hope it goes okay for you, I am just in the process fo renewing mine for next year.
GSKForYou | GSK Patient Assistance Program
Learn how our program can assist you if you need help paying for your GlaxoSmithKline prescription medicines and vaccines, whether you have coverage or not.
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Gordon
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Gordon
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Since November 2024 I have been in the hospital to have pleural effusions drained (Thoracentesis) three times. I had to go to the ER each time, because I was unable to wait for an out-patient appointment. I was in the hospital on average 3 days each time. The last time, the ER doctor decided that a chest tube was needed.
After much searching for information on this issue and discussing with my Pulmonologist, my pulmonologist and I agreed that the next step to avoid future hospitalizations for this was to have the Indwelling Pleural Catheter (PleurX) placed in my chest so that I could drain this fluid as needed at home. The other option was Chemical Pleurodesis with a sclerosing agent such as doxycycline or talc powder. This would essentially glue my lung to the chest wall, eliminating most of the pleural space where the fluid collects. This option is a more drastic one for patients suffering with cancer that may cause the effusions. Mine thankfully is not.
In my search online for resources and information from others who have this PleurX catheter implanted, I have found no help at all. I am posting this here to search for others who have had this procedure and want to know what their experiences were. I am looking for any advice, issues, concerns, difficulties, good points as well as bad points. If any of you have direct knowledge on the Indwelling Pleural Catheter as a patient or caregiver, please let me know your experiences.
Thank you all and special thanks to Somya, for her guidance in preparing this post.
Gordon