Definition

1. Noun:
   • A medical procedure involving the removal of fluid from the chest cavity: Thoracocentesis is a surgical puncture of the chest wall to aspirate fluid from the pleural space for diagnostic analysis or therapeutic relief.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The patient's respiratory distress necessitated an emergency thoracocentesis.
  • Analysis of the fluid obtained via thoracocentesis confirmed the diagnosis of pneumonia.
  • Thoracocentesis provided immediate therapeutic relief by draining the pleural effusion.

Advanced Usage

• "Diagnostic thoracocentesis": A procedure performed primarily to obtain a fluid sample for laboratory analysis to determine the cause of a pleural effusion.
  • Diagnostic thoracocentesis revealed malignant cells in the pleural fluid.
• "Therapeutic thoracocentesis": A procedure performed primarily to relieve symptoms like shortness of breath by removing a large volume of fluid.
  • Therapeutic thoracocentesis was performed to alleviate the patient's dyspnea.

Variants and Related Words

• Pleurocentesis (n): A synonym for thoracocentesis; the surgical puncture of the pleural cavity.
• Thoracentesis (n): The more common modern spelling and synonym for thoracocentesis.
• Centesis (n): A general surgical term for a puncture or perforation, often to remove fluid.

Synonyms

• Thoracentesis: The puncture of the chest wall for fluid aspiration.
• Pleurocentesis: Puncture of the pleural cavity.
• Chest tap: An informal term for the procedure.

Related Phrases

• "To perform a thoracocentesis": To carry out the medical procedure.
  • The pulmonologist will perform a thoracocentesis this afternoon.
• "Ultrasound-guided thoracocentesis": The procedure performed with the aid of ultrasound imaging for precision.
  • Ultrasound-guided thoracocentesis minimizes the risk of complications.

Noun

1. removal of fluid from the chest by centesis for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes