title: Surgical management of malignant pleural effusions.
abstract: The two reasonable options for surgical management of malignant pleural effusions are tunneled pleural catheters and video-assisted thoracic surgery with talc pleurodesis. Successful palliation demands balancing the patient's wishes, performance status, and prognosis with the ability to obtain full lung expansion and control fluid production. There is no ideal procedure; surgical treatment must be individualized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue/Desk J4-1, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. murthys1@ccf.org
authors.forename: Sudish C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Murthy
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Rice
mesh_terms: D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D018700:Pleurodesis / Q000379:methods; D011859:Radiography; D013627:Talc / Q000008:administration & dosage; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D013627:Talc