Pleura
Your pleura is a large, thin sheet of tissue that wraps around the outside of your lungs and lines the inside of your chest cavity. Between the layers of the pleura is a very thin space. Normally it's filled with a small amount of fluid. The fluid helps the two layers of the pleura glide smoothly past each other as your lungs breathe air in and out.
Disorders of the pleura include:
- Pleurisy - inflammation of the pleura that causes sharp pain with breathing
- Pleural effusion - excess fluid in the pleural space
- Pneumothorax - buildup of air or gas in the pleural space
- Hemothorax - buildup of blood in the pleural space
Many different conditions can cause pleural problems. Viral infection is the most common cause of pleurisy. The most common cause of pleural effusion is congestive heart failure. Lung diseases, like COPD, tuberculosis, and acute lung injury, cause pneumothorax. Injury to the chest is the most common cause of hemothorax. Treatment focuses on removing fluid, air, or blood from the pleural space, relieving symptoms, and treating the underlying condition.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Felter's Materia Medica on Pleura
The root of Asclepias tuberosa, Linné (Nat. Ord. Asclepiadaceae). United States and Canada. Dose, 5 to 60 grains. Common Names: Pleurisy Root,... / ...ked restlessness, and more or less febrile reaction. In chest disorders there is pain upon motion pleural painand the cough is short, hacking, barking, rasping, and nervous-and restrained as much ...1
The root of Bryonia dioica, Jacquin, and Bryonia alba, Linné (Nat. Ord. Cucurbitaceae.) Europe. Common Names: Bryony, Bastard Turnip, Devil's... / ...ring the prolonged fever, and never does the patient harm. In diseases of the respiratory tract and pleura, bryonia heads the list of useful remedies. The well-known indications given by the founder o... / ...its origin in irritation or erethism. Tensive or sharp pains are almost always present, and the secretion, if there is any, is small in quantit1
The leaves, tops, and seeds of Lobelia inflata, Linné (Nat. Ord. Lobeliaceae). Abundant in the United States. Dose, 1 to 60 grains. Common... / ... invaluable local application to the chest in acute thoracic diseases, and gives marked relief from pleural and muscular pains and alleviates the sense of suffocation and fullness accompanied by a fee... / ...and inflammatory aff1
The inner, fleshy scales of the bulb of the white variety of Urginea maritima (Linné), Baker (Nat. Ord. Liliaceae), cut into fragments and... / ...oyed for the elimination of dropsical effusion; and still is used for the absorption and removal of pleural, pericardial, and especially peritoneal effusion, but with more care than formerly. In large... / ...normal equilibrium in the bronchial mucosa. When fever is absent and the sputum scanty and tenacious, the following is useful: Rx Syr. Sci1