The answer 1: The pleurisy
Pleurisy corresponds to the presence of liquid between the two sheets of the pleura, the membrane lining the thoracic cavity and having for goal the protection of the lungs. We speak of purulent pleurisy when the fluid contained in this pleural cavity consists of pus.
Answer 2: Pulmonary auscultation
In healthy subjects, pulmonary auscultation can be used to hear normal breathing sounds called vesicular murmur. It results from the movement of air in the tracheobronchial tree and alveoli. He is gentle, breathing in inspiration; it is more intense but shorter in expiration. There may be variations in vesicular murmur intensity as a function of chest wall thickness (eg decreased vesicular murmur in obese subjects).
In the pathological state, several abnormalities can be found at auscultation:
Inversion of the respiratory rhythm with prolongation of expiratory time (emphysema and asthma)
Changes in the vesicular murmur:
Added noises like rales, and pleural friction.
Answer 3:
The auscultation of the lungs will find suspicious signs, showing the presence of fluid in the pleura: sounds heard on normal auscultation are reduced or inexistent, and it is only in one lung generally. The confirmation is simple enough to perform via a chest x-ray showing the presence of fluid in the pleura.
Besides that, the doctor will look at the location of the pain, and he will look for breathlessness too.
