Problem: Patient was brought to the operating room and the back prepped and draped. The area of skin over the left posterior chest was anesthetized with lidocaine. With a 22 gauge needle, the pleural space was infiltrated, and 100-120 mg of straw-colored ascites fluid was aspirated. The needle was removed and a small dressing was placed. A post-thoracentesis chest x-ray revealed no pneumothorax. Need Online Tutoring?