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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Local Anesthetic Thoracoscopy for Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion
Published on: November 10, 2023
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for malignant pleural effusions
Fuat Sayir1, Ufuk Cobanoglu, Duygu Mergan
1Department of Thoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey.
Aim:
To evaluate the efficacy of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural effusions (MPE) and to assess the results and complications of the procedure.
Methods:
A total of 61 patients with the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion were assessed retrospectively between 2004 - 2010, 25 women (40.9%) and 36 men (59.1%), with an age range of 18-78 (mean: 61.3). Video-thoracoscopic surgery was performed under general anesthesia or with local anesthesia in sedated patients.
Results:
No intraoperative complications were observed. In 6 cases, prolonged air leak developed. Pleurodesis was successfully implemented in malignant cases. The chest tube was removed when the amount of fluid was less 50 cc/24 h. The duration of drainage was significantly shorter in patients in whom VATS was performed.
Conclusion:
We believe that VATS is an effective method in the diagnosis and palliative treatment of cases with malignant pleural effusions.
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