Don’t Fear the REPEr

Reexpansion pulmonary edema is a well documented complication after interventions to treat pneumothorax and pleural fluid accumulation. Despite its documented occurrence with therapeu- tic chest tubes and thoracentesis, we found no documented occurrences of reexpansion pulmonary edema after the placement of tunneled pleural catheters as a therapeutic intervention for malignant pleural effusions. As the placement of these catheters is becoming widely practiced by pulmonologists, we explore the myth that there is a maximum fluid limit of drainage after this procedure.