Diagnosis and treatment strategy of malignant pleural effusions in outpatient conditions

According to results of the study, which included 52 patients with malignant pleural effusion of unknown etiology, it could be concluded that the method of choice in differential diagnosis of pleural effusion is the immunocytochemistry as the most informative method (efficacy 94,2%). Based on own experience of treatment of 137 patients with recurrent malignant pleural effusions, we can say that the first stage of treatment of pleural effusions is carrying out pleurodesis in outpatient conditions. The choice of pleurodesis method, first of all, depends on the aggressiveness of tumor pleurisy: in a case of daily exudation till 300 ml we choose talc pleurodesis, from 300 to 700--bleomycin pleurodesis, more than 700--combined (talc and bleomycin pleurodesis). The overall efficiency of produced pleurodesis is 64.5%.