Clinical-therapeutic management of thoracoscopy in pleural effusion: a groundbreaking technique in the twenty-first century

Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of thoracoscopy in the diagnosis of non-affiliated pleural effusions (PE). Material and methods A five-year prospective study including data from 110 patients that were clinically diagnosed as benign (14.5%), malign (34.5%) and...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical & translational oncology 2011, Vol.13 (1), p.57-60
Main Authors: Galbis, José Marcelo, Mata, Manuel, Guijarro, Ricardo, Esturi, Rafael, Figueroa, Salvador, Arnau, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Biopsy
Diagnosis, Differential
Female
Follow-Up Studies
History, 21st Century
Humans
Male
Medical Oncology - history
Medical Oncology - trends
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Middle Aged
Oncology
Pleural Effusion - diagnosis
Pleural Effusion - epidemiology
Pleural Effusion - pathology
Pleural Effusion - surgery
Postoperative Complications - epidemiology
Reproducibility of Results
Thoracoscopy - adverse effects
Thoracoscopy - methods
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Introduction The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of thoracoscopy in the diagnosis of non-affiliated pleural effusions (PE). Material and methods A five-year prospective study including data from 110 patients that were clinically diagnosed as benign (14.5%), malign (34.5%) and non-affiliated (50.9%). PE in patents without oncology disease and negative biopsy or cytology were considered as benign. Malignant diagnosis was established according to a pleural biopsy, compatible cytology and/or clinical features. Remaining cases were considered as non-affiliated. Thoracoscopy was done under local anaesthesia and sedation. Results Thoracoscopy confirmed previous clinical diagnosis of benignity and malignity. Regarding non-affiliated patients, 30.35% were diagnosed after thoracoscopy as unspecific pleuritis, 17.86% mesothelioma and 1.79% pleural tuberculosis (TBC). The other 48.21% of patients reported as non-affiliated were diagnosed with pleural carcinoma. Statistical analysis did not reveal differences between frequencies analysed. Conclusions Our results indicate that thoracoscopy is a cost-effective and reliable technique for obtaining histological diagnosis in PE and also allows a directed pleurodesis if indicated.
ISSN:1699-048X
1699-3055
DOI:10.1007/s12094-011-0617-x