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Medicine Grand Rounds, Richard W. Light “Pleural Disease Update 2016”
November 3, 2016 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Dr. Light is presently Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Light is best known for his research on pleural disease. He developed Light’s criteria for the separation of transudates and exudates in 1972. Subsequently, he has published many papers concerning the pathogenesis, diagnosis and management of pleural disease. Dr. Light is the editor of 12 books; the two most famous are the single authored monograph Pleural Diseases–now in its fifth edition–and The Textbook of Pleural Disease which he edits in conjunction with Dr. YC Gary Lee. Dr. Light has now been an author on more than 350 articles and has spoken in 43 countries.
In this lecture, Dr. Light will discuss the separation of transudates and exudates. He also will outline the usual tests that he recommends be obtained when a thoracentesis is performed. He will talk about the options available to diagnose a pleural effusion when no diagnosis is apparent after the initial thoracentesis. Lastly, he will describe the treatment of parapneumonic effusions and malignant pleural effusions.
His expertise includes the use of transforming growth factor beta to produce a pleural effusion, studies of the characteristics of pleural fluid with different diseases, development of a model of empyema in the rat, and the relationship between pulmonary hypertension and the presence of pleural effusions.