Metastatic renal cell carcinoma-associated pleural effusion after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Pleural effusions after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) occur in up to 89% of patients undergoing the procedure. Effusions present days to months after surgery, and fluid characteristics relate to timing factors. Most of the effusions are left-sided and resolve spontaneously. Pleural effusions requiring treatment occur in a small percentage of patients who have undergone CABG. Post-CABG pleural effusions in temporal relation to malignant effusions are not widely reported. This report describes a 50-year-old man presenting with a malignant left-sided pleural effusion 3 months after CABG, with characteristics resembling a late post-CABG effusion.