Pleurx Catheter

Is anyone familiar with the pleurx catheter?  My husband had one placed a month ago and we were told that we probably would only have to drain it once a week.  However, I am having to drain every other day and getting 350ml on the average.  I just wanted to know if this seems like a lot and why is he filling up so fast?  Thanks for any info.  Take care.  Margaret 

Margaret,

My mother in law was just diagnosed with stage 3b nsclc lung ca not even one month when she became sob and had a chest xray that revealed a large pleural effusion.  She underwent an outpatient thoracentsis and tapped off 1 litre.  Not even one week later the test results of her cancer came in and she became sob again and was scheduled for a pleurx tube placement.  I am in the medical field and go to her house every other day and drain it for her and pull off 550-600 dark amber colored fluid.  I have being doing this for almost 2 weeks and see no decline in the total amounts.  The fluid is being secreted from the primary tumor in her lung.  She is awaiting a pet scan and from this she will decide on pallative chemo or not. Some patients will show a decline in the amount after initial treatment and eventually when no output from the catheter is demonstrated over ususally weeks the oncologist may discuss options to remvoe the catheter.  If you have any other questions about it please let me know.