What color is the drainage from a chest tube with a a pleural effusion?

Chest drainage: It depends on the character of the effusion. Frequently malignant effusions will be bloody. Infectious effusions may be cloudy/pussy. Effusions from CHF are usually sort of beer colored.

Depends: Normal fluid should look like light colored urine. Heart, liver and kidney failure effusions will look like this. If it's an empyema, it will be pus. If it's infection or something inflammatory, It can be pus, dark yellow, or bloody. If it's a cancer, it's almost always bloody.

Depends on cause: It really depends on the cause of the effusion. For example, it can look very bloody if related to a hemothorax or complicated parapneumonic effusion, it can look like pus if due to an empyema, or it can even look milky if related to a chylothorax, in general, if due to pneumonia or malignancy it usually looks clear to yellowish with some blood.

Varies: Most are yellow, pale serous. Hemothorax is bloody -red chylothorax is creamy pus can be yellow, green, nasty.

Depends: caused bybwhat? Trauma- bloody Cancer- bloody or yellow serous, or sero- sanguinous. Infection - bloody or cloudy or pus or serous