Pigtail Catheter: A Less Invasive Option for Pleural Drainage in Egyptian Patients with Recurrent Hepatic Hydrothorax

Table 1

Liver function tests, child score, and pleural fluid characteristic of the studied patients.

Liver functions
Serum bilirubin	2 ± 1.86 mg/dL
Serum albumin	2.7 ± 0.36 g/dL
AST	36.83 ± 22.77 U/L
ALT	55.06 ± 27.68 U/L
Child-Pugh score
Child A	0 (0%)
Child B	32 (53.33%)
Child C	28 (46.66%)
Pleural fluid characteristic
Protein	1.6 ± 0.4 gm%
LDH	103.5 ± 23.9 IU/L
Serum-pleural fluid albumin gradient	1.7 ± 0.3 gm%
Duration of drainage: mean ± SD	10.3 ± 6.1 days
Amount of drained fluid: mean ± SD	5.3 ± 1.7 liters