Abstract
© 2020 The Authors. Respirology Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Asian Pacific Society of Respirology Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is common with mesothelioma. We report two cases of extraordinarily viscous MPEs associated with mesothelioma. The viscosity prohibited spontaneous gravity-dependent drainage via indwelling pleural catheters. Our ex vivo experiments found very high hyaluronic acid (HA) content within the fluid. Treatment of the fluid with hyaluronidase, but not with deoxyribonucleases, significantly reduced fluid viscosity. The results provide proof that HA can contribute to high viscosity of pleural fluid in mesothelioma. Research into strategies of counteracting HA properties in the management of MPEs may provide further insight.
RAS ID
38934
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
2021
Volume
9
Issue
1
Funding Information
Funding information: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rcr2.694
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Publisher
Wiley
Comments
Cheah, H. M., Fitzgerald, D., Louw, A., Creaney, J., & Lee, Y. C. G. (2021). Hyaluronic acid in viscous malignant mesothelioma pleural effusion. Respirology Case Reports, 9(1), article e00694. https://doi.org/10.1002/rcr2.694