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What is the life expectancy of someone with pleurisy?
Answered by Dr. Howard E. LeWine
M.D. Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing · 40 years of experience · USA
Pleurisy means inflammation of the pleura, the membrane that lines the lungs within the chest cavity. The typical symptom is chest pain that gets worse when you take a deep breath. The most common cause of pleurisy in developed countries is a viral infection of the pleura. It almost always resolves without specific treatment, and life expectancy is the same as someone without pleurisy. Less commonly, pleurisy can be related to blood clots in the lung (pulmonary emboli), a lung infection, or cancer. The prognosis then is related to successful treatment of the underlying condition.
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Can blunt chest trauma cause pleurisy?
Answered by Dr. Howard E. LeWine
M.D. Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing · 40 years of experience · USA
Blunt trauma to the chest can lead to pleurisy, inflammation of the pleura. The pleura is the thin lining that covers the lungs and the inside wall of the chest cavity. Normally the two surfaces slide easily over each other as we breathe in and out. The inflammation of pleurisy causes chest pain that hurts more when taking a deep breath, coughing or sneezing.
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Can pleurisy heal naturally?
Answered by Dr. Howard E. LeWine
M.D. Chief Medical Editor, Harvard Health Publishing · 40 years of experience · USA
Pleurisy is inflammation of the pleura. The pleura is the thin lining that covers the lungs and the inside wall of the chest cavity. Normally the two surfaces slide easily over each other as we breathe in and out. The inflammation of pleurisy causes chest pain that hurts more when taking a deep breath, coughing or sneezing. There are multiple possible reasons for pleurisy. Treating the cause of pleurisy usually allows the inflammation to heal.
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