Pleural fluid in the context of Potential space

The pleurae (sg.: pleura) are the two flattened pleural sacs filled with pleural fluid that surround each lung, and lines their surrounding tissues. They are formed of two opposing layers of serous membrane that separate the lungs from the mediastinum, the inside surfaces of the surrounding chest walls and the diaphragm. Although wrapped onto itself resulting in a double layer, each lung is surrounded by a single, continuous pleural membrane.

The pleura that covers the surface of each lung is the visceral pleura. The pleura typically dips between the lobes of the lung as fissures, and is formed by the invagination of lung buds into each thoracic sac during embryonic development. The pleura that lines the chest wall, is the parietal pleura.

A pleural effusion is accumulation of excessive fluid in the pleural space, the potential space that surrounds each lung.Under normal conditions, pleural fluid is secreted by the parietal pleural capillaries at a rate of 0.6 millilitre per kilogram weight per hour, and is cleared by lymphatic absorption leaving behind only 5–15 millilitres of fluid, which helps to maintain a functional vacuum between the parietal and visceral pleurae. Excess fluid within the pleural space can impair inspiration by upsetting the functional vacuum and hydrostatically increasing the resistance against lung expansion, resulting in a fully or partially collapsed lung.

Various kinds of fluid can accumulate in the pleural space, such as serous fluid (hydrothorax), blood (hemothorax), pus (pyothorax, more commonly known as pleural empyema), chyle (chylothorax), or very rarely urine (urinothorax) or feces (coprothorax). When unspecified, the term "pleural effusion" normally refers to hydrothorax. A pleural effusion can also be compounded by a pneumothorax (accumulation of air in the pleural space), leading to a hydropneumothorax.