Cough during therapeutic thoracentesis: friend or foe?

We report intriguing preliminary observations on the effect of cough on pleural pressure changes during therapeutic thoracentesis. We found that cough-related elevation of pleural pressure persisted even when the cough had stopped. Thus, we hypothesize that cough during therapeutic thoracentesis may have a beneficial effect preventing the excessive drop in pleural pressure. The true role of cough-related elevation of pleural pressure is unknown, but it seems to be an interesting subject for further research.