Treatment of malignant pleural effusion by simple powdery talcage under medical thoracoscopy

Objective To study the therapeutic effect and safety of pleurodesis with medical thoracoscopy by powdery talc on treatment of malignant pleural effusion. Methods Retrospective analysis were done in 74 cases of malignant pleural effusion accepted simple powdery talc pleurodesis under medical thoracoscopy. Results The doses of powdery talc were from 1g to 5g,average 2.18g in the course of the treatment. After operation, 45(60.8%) cases which were complete remission(CR) were full pleural adhesion and complete lung recruitment, 14cases(18.9%), which were partial remission(PR),were less pleural adhesion and most lung recruitment, and 10cases(13.6%) were stable diseases(SD), while 5cases(6.7%), which were progressive diseases(PD), were without pleural reaction. The total effective rate, including CR,PR and SD, was 93.3%(69/74). The complications of simple powdery talcage under medical thoracoscopy were included in:95.9%(71/74) with chest pain,64.8%(48/74) with fever,28.4%(21/74) with shortness of breath,12.2%(9/74) with mediastinal and subcutaneous emphysema,5.4%(4/74)with nausea and vomiting,4.1%(3/74) with abdominal distension, while the complications of acute pulmonary edema, massive hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism and wound infection were not observed. Conclusion Treatment of malignant pleural effusion by simple powdery talcage under medical thoracoscopy has definite clinic therapeutic effect, which is safe, costeffective, less trauma and worthy of clinical application. Key words: Pleural effusion,malignant; Thoracoscopy; Pleurodesis; Talc