Pleural Effusion and Differential Diagnosis in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis

A 30-year-old woman who had been diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis many years ago and not treated since 2 years was referred to local the Department of Chest Diseases of State Hospital with a sudden onset of right lateral chest pain. The chest X-ray on admission showed pleural effusion on the right hemithorax. Thoracentesis was applied. Hemorrhagic pleural effusion was obtained. It was thought rheumatoid pleurisy with its clinical, radiological and laboratory findings. In this case report, we have presented the diffuculties during differential diagnosis of pleural effusion in rheumatoid arthritis patients and details accompanied by a literature review.