“Is pleurisy a disease? How long does a pleuritic chest pain last?”
While pleurisy is a condition of the heart, is it considered to be a serious illness? My father suffered from pleuritic chest infection, so does that make me susceptible to acquiring the same too. Can it go on to affect the quality of life in a person? When does a pleuritic chest pain become serious and require medical attention?
5 Answers
Pleurisy is a condition of the lungs. It is an inflammation of the pleural lining around the lungs. It can be viral, bacterial or caused by chemical exposures. It may last a couple of days or much longer, depending on the cause and treatment. Usually, anti-inflammatory medications at high doses are used initially for the inflammation. If the pain continues to worsen or starts to affect your ability to do activity or is associated with fever, then you should be seen sooner than later.
Pleurisy is usually a result of inflammation around the heart or lung. Most of the time it’s self limited and has a direct cause (infection), it’s treated by treating the underlying problem, and perhaps anti inflammatory meds, for the most part it’s not genetic unless there are reasons why anyone would have infections maybe an immunologist consult can be considered.
Julia G. Ansari
Cardiologist
Pleura is the layer covering the lung and not a heart disease and is usually due to inflammation and can occur after a viral illness or some autoimmune disease. The therapy is usually NSAID and conservative therapy. It is not a genetic disease and you should not worry about inheriting it. It can affect quality of life as coughing can bring on the chest pain but it is not a serious condition.
Pleurisy is technically inflammation of the lining of the lung. It can be caused by various diseases. Some are more serious than other. When we say "pleuritic chest pain" we mean pain that is similar to pleurisy but this could be caused by the heart, or the lung or the chest wall and is a broad term. No quick answers to this question. If you have chest pain of any kind you need to see your doctor to assess it further or to to the ER.
There are several causes of pleuritic chest pain. Pleuritic chest pain usually means that it is worse when one takes a deep breath. It can come from the chest wall, heart or lungs. Pleurisy, is inflammation of the covering of the lungs, again different causes are present. The duration and recurrence depends on the cause.
Sorry for not being able to answer your question more precisely.
sk
Sorry for not being able to answer your question more precisely.
sk
