Clump material within drainage chest tubes contain diagnostic information: A proof-of-concept case series.

Pleural effusion is a common diagnostic and therapeutic challenge [1, 2]. Malignant pleural effusion (MPE), in particular, often necessitates fluid drainage with chest tubes for symptom control [3, 4] and its diagnosis requires cyto-histological assessment of pleural fluid or tissue biopsies [2]. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of interest: Dr. Louw has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Sidhu has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Fitzgerald has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Creaney reports grants from National Health and Medical Research Council, grants from Insurance Commission of Western Australia, during the conduct of the study. Conflict of interest: Dr. Chai has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Dr. Lee has nothing to disclose.