TUBERCULOUS PLEURAL EFFUSION FOLLOWING CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS GRAFT

We present two patients with moderate left ventricular dysfunction, who developed a pleural effusion after coronary artery bypass grafting ( CABG). The effusion was proven to be an exsudate of tuberculous origin. This illustrates that not all pleural exsudates developing after CABG are due to a post-pericardiotomy syndrome. Therefore microbiological examination of pleural fluid and if necessary pleural biopsy should be performed in all patients with an unresolving pleural effusion following CABG.