Pleurisy

For a lay person:

Pleurisy is inflammation of the thin layers that line the lungs and chest wall, so they rub together and cause sharp chest pain when you breathe in, cough or sneeze. It is usually caused by a viral infection, but can also come from pneumonia, a blood clot in the lung, tuberculosis or other diseases. Sometimes fluid builds up around the lung and causes breathlessness.

For a trained medical person:

Pleuritis presents as pleuritic chest pain, with or without a pleural effusion, from viral infection, pneumonia, tuberculosis, pulmonary embolism, malignancy, autoimmune disease or other causes. Assessment must exclude pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, myocardial infarction and pericarditis, using examination, chest radiography, ultrasound, ECG and D-dimer or CT pulmonary angiography as indicated, with pleural fluid analysis for effusions. Management treats the cause, with NSAIDs for pain where appropriate and drainage of significant effusions.

In Chinese medicine:

Liu and Tseng's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Beginning Stage (Early Stage of Dry or Exudative Pleurisy); Fluid Congestion Period; Recovery Period. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Seek emergency care for sudden chest pain with breathlessness, coughing up blood, a fast heart rate or fainting, as these may mean a blood clot in the lung or another emergency. See a doctor for any chest pain on breathing with fever.