title: Treatment of malignant pleural effusion with drainage, with and without instillation of talc.
abstract: In order to determine whether pleural drainage with talc instillation was better than pleural drainage alone, in the treatment of malignant effusion, the present trial was initiated. Thirty-one patients with malignant pleural effusion and progressive disease, resistant to conventional therapy, were included. All patients had pleural drainage applied. After re-expansion of the lung, half of the patients had talc instilled through the chest tube. Twenty-one of the 31 treated patients were evaluable. After pleural drainage with talc instillation, all of 9 treated patients obtained complete resolution of the effusion and subjective improvement. After pleural drainage alone, 7 of 12 patients obtained complete resolution of the malignant effusion. If it is possible to re-expand the lung during pleural drainage in patients with a malignant pleural effusion, pleurodesis can be obtained in 60% of the treated patients with pleural drainage alone. This study showed a statistically significant improvement in the treatment associated with instillation of talc into the pleural cavity and this was achieved without causing increased discomfort to the patient.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004322:Drainage / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D010996:Pleural Effusion; D011897:Random Allocation; D013627:Talc / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D013627:Talc