Medical Thoracoscopy: Diagnostic Role in the Management of Undiagnosed Pleural Effusions and its Complications

Introduction: Cases of undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions are common in clinical practice and pose a diagnostic challenge for pulmonologists. Medical thoracoscopy allows both direct visualizations of pleural space for diagnostic evaluation and chemical pleurodesis for therapeutic purposes. Objectives: This study investigated the diagnostic role of medical thoracoscopy in the cases of undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions and complications of thoracoscopic pleural biopsy. Patients and methods: Between December 2016 and August 2019, 195 patients of undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions underwent medical thoracoscopy in our institute. Pleural biopsies were taken and sent for histopathological and microbiological examination. Results: The diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy in this study was 89.7%. Definite diagnosis was achieved in 175 out of 195 patients of the study population and only 20 (10.3%) patients were failed to be diagnosed by medical thoracoscopy. Histopathological results of thoracoscopic pleural biopsy among the study population revealed tubercular pleuritis in 31.79% (62 patients), metastatic adenocarcinoma in 23.07% (45 patients), malignant mesothelioma in 18.46% (36 patients), parapneumonic effusions in 6.66% (13 patients), metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in 5.64% (11 patients), small cell carcinoma in 3.07% (6 patients), malignant lymphoma in 0.51% (1 patient), and rheumatoid pleuritis in 0.51% (1 patient). Only 19.4% (38 patients) had minor complications like pain, minor bleeding, subcutaneous emphysema, and re-expansion pulmonary edema. Conclusion: Thoracoscopy is a safe, well-tolerated procedure with minimal risk allowing the accurate diagnosis of undiagnosed pleural effusion. Besides determining the underlying cause, it also provides unique therapeutic approaches like pleurodesis to patients with malignant pleural effusions.

Diagnostic flex-rigid pleuroscopic biopsy of parietal pleura for exudative pleural effusions in suspected malignant and tuberculosis cases: a retrospective study of 219 cases

Objectives: This study was carried out to ascertain the aetiology of exudative pleural effusions when other diagnostic investigations such as pleural fluid and sputum examination for cytology and acid fast bacilli fail to yield a definitive diagnosis and to differentiate between tuberculosis and malignancy in cases suspicious of malignancy. Methods: Pleuroscopic biopsies were obtained in 219 cases by Chest Physicians in the endoscopy suite using flexi-rigid fiber-optic pleuroscopes. Histological sections were stained with H&E and microscopic examination performed. Ziehl-Nielsen stain for acid fast bacilli was performed in all suspected tuberculosis cases and immunohistochemistry for Thyroid transcription factor 1 and other markers were carried out for all cases suspicious of malignancy. Results: Adequate biopsy material for interpretation was obtained in 210 (95.9%) of 219 cases. Histopathology revealed 79 (37.6%) cases were tuberculosis, 64 (30.5%) were malignant (primary from lung and other sites), 62 (29.5%) were non-specific inflammation and 5 (2.4%) were empyema. A definitive diagnosis of tuberculosis, malignancy and empyema was obtained in 70.5% of cases. Tuberculosis was encountered in a younger age-group than malignancy. Mean age for tuberculosis patient was 49 years while for malignant patients was 63 years. The majority (79.6%) of malignances encountered were metastatic lung adenocarcinoma.

Effectiveness of medical thoracoscopy and thoracoscopic talc poudrage in patients with exudative pleural effusion

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of medical thoracoscopy (MT) and thoracoscopic talc poudrage (TTP) in patients with exudative pleural effusion.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We evaluated the diagnostic yields, complications and outcomes of MT and TTP in 41 consecutive patients with symptomatic pleural effusions who were planned to undergo both procedures from 1 December 2011 to 30 November 2012. Data was reviewed retrospectively and prospectively up to March 2013.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the 41 patients, 36 underwent MT with the intent of biopsy and talc pleurodesis, 2 underwent MT for pleurodesis only and 3 had failed MT. Aetiologies of pleural effusion included lung cancer (n = 14), tuberculosis (n = 9), breast cancer (n = 7), ovarian cancer (n = 2), malignant mesothelioma (n = 1), congestive cardiac failure (n = 1), peritoneal dialysis (n = 1) and hepatic hydrothorax (n = 1); pleural effusion was undiagnosed in five patients. The overall diagnostic yield of MT, and the yield in tubercular and malignant pleural effusions were 77.8%, 100.0% and 82.6%, respectively; it was inconclusive in 22.2%. Complications that occurred were self-limiting, with no procedure-related mortality. The 30-day mortality rate was 17.1%. A total of 15 patients underwent TTP. The 30-, 60- and 90-day success rates were 77.8%, 80.0% and 80.0%, respectively, with one patient having complications (i.e. empyema). The 30-day mortality was 40.0%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>MT is a safe procedure with high diagnostic yields in undiagnosed pleural effusions. TTP is an effective method to stop recurrence of pleural effusions.</p>

Medical thoracoscopy for undiagnosed pleural effusions: Experience from a tertiary care hospital in north India.

Background and Aims. Medical thoracoscopy, also called pleuroscopy, has received renewed interest in the recent past for diagnostic as well as therapeutic uses. In this study, we describe our experience with thoracoscopy for undiagnosed pleural effusions. Methods. In a retrospective analysis of thoracoscopic procedures we performed between January 2007 and December 2008, yield of thoracoscopic pleural biopsy for achieving a diagnosis in undiagnosed pleural effusions, defined as pleural effusions with adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels less than 70 IU/L and negative pleural fluid cytology for malignancy on three occasions was evaluated. Complications of thoracoscopy were also analysed. Results. Overall diagnostic yield of thoracoscopic pleural biopsy was 74.3% in patients with undiagnosed pleural effusions. Pleural malignancy was diagnosed in 48.6% of patients. There was only one case of mesothelioma and the rest were due to pleural metastasis. Lung cancer and breast cancer were the most common sites of primary malignancy. Tuberculosis was diagnosed with pleural biopsy in 22.8% of patients. We had low complication rate after thoracoscopy. Only two cases of empyema were observed. Conclusion. Medical thoracoscopy is a safe procedure and has good diagnostic yield in patients with undiagnosed pleural effusions.

Comparison of clinical effect of different operation methods the patients wiht thoracic trauma / 中国基层医药

Objective To compare the difference of clinical effect on the thoracic trauma patients between conventional thoracotomy(CTH) and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and the possible mechanism.Methods Two hundred thoracic trauma patients were enrolled from 2007 January to 2010 March,and divided into VATS group( n =98) and CTH group( n = 102) according to the operative methods. The levels of serum high sensitive C-reactive protein(hs-CRP) ,interleukin-6 (IL--6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were determined before and after operation. Intraoperative blood lost, operative time, postoperative analgesic time and hospitalization time were recorded and analyzed. Results There were no differences on the levels of inflammatory factors between the two groups before operation(P＞0.05) ,but the levels of inflammatory factors of VATS group were significantly decreased than that of CTH group after operation ( all P < 0. 05). Intraoperative blood lost, operative time, postoperative analgesic time and hospitalization time of VATS group were also lower than that of CTH group ( all P < 0. 05 ). Conclusion Compared with conventional thoracotomy, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery had the characteristics of less intraoperative blood lost, shorter operative and postoperative analgesic time, and rapid recovery, could be relative to less inflammatory reaction.