ABSTRACT
Pleural effusions occur in up to 20% of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas (NHL) (1). On the other hand, up to 10% of malignant (positive cytology) pleural effusions are due to NHL (2). However, the majority of information in the literature is based on minor observational studies or case reports (1-13). In the majority of patients the pleural effusion is present at diagnosis, and it has not been proved to affect complete remission or survival (1, 10, 14). Pleural effusion usually occurs as a part of widespread disease (mainly associated with mediastinal involvement) (4, 6, 9, 10, 14). It may be unilateral or bilateral, and as a rule it causes symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, and chest pain. The majority of cases belong to the intermediate grade of malignancy group, a small proportion belongs to the low-grade group, and an even smaller proportion belongs to the high-grade group. The latter has the most unfavorable prognosis (5-14).
