title: Experience with indwelling pleural catheters in the treatment of recurrent pleural effusions.
abstract: Recurrent pleural effusions are frequently encountered in clinical practice. Whether malignant or nonmalignant, they often pose a challenge to the practicing clinician. When they recur, despite optimum medical therapy of the underlying condition and repeated thoracenteses, more invasive definitive approaches are usually required. Since its introduction in 1997, the PleurX catheter became the preferred method to treat recurrent malignant pleural effusions. Since then, a number of publications have documented its utility in managing recurrent nonmalignant pleural effusions. The purpose of this paper is to review the use of the PleurX catheter in recurrent pleural effusions.
authors.affiliation: Staten Island University Hospital, USA mchalhoub1@northwell.edu.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chalhoub
authors.affiliation: Staten Island University Hospital, USA.
authors.forename: Zulfiqar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Staten Island University Hospital, USA.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sasso
authors.affiliation: Staten Island University Hospital, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castellano
mesh_terms: D002408:Catheters, Indwelling; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence; D000069258:Thoracentesis / Q000379:methods
keywords: indwelling pleural catheter; malignant pleural effusions; non-malignant pleural effusions; recurrent pleural effusions