Effective treatment of malignant pleural effusion by minimal invasive thoracic surgery: thoracoscopic talc pleurodesis and pleuroperitoneal shunts in 101 patients

For effective palliation of patients with malignant pleural effusion due to advanced neoplastic disease, any proposed treatment should have low procedure-related mortality and morbidity.The clinical outcome of 119 thoracoscopies in 101 patients (56 women, 45 men), from 42 to 91 years of age (mean, 68 +/- 9 years) with malignant pleural effusions was evaluated in a retrospective study. Video-assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) talc pleurodesis was done...