Predicting the survival in patients with malignant pleural effusion undergoing indwelling pleural catheter insertion

Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a common comorbid condition in advanced malignancies with variable survival.

The aim of this study was to predict the survival in patients with MPE undergoing indwelling pleural catheter (IPC) insertion.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan.

One hundred and ten patients with MPE who underwent IPC insertion from January 2011 to December 2019 were reviewed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to determine the overall survival (OS) of the patient's cohort with respect to LENT score.

The IBM SPSS version 20 was used for statistical analysis.

We retrospectively reviewed 110 patients who underwent IPC insertion for MPE, with a mean age of 49 ± 15 years. 76 (69.1%) patients were females, of which majority 59 (53.6%) had a primary diagnosis of breast cancer. The LENT score was used for risk stratification, and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to predict the OS. The proportion of patients with low-risk LENT score had 91%, 58%, and 29% survival, the moderate-risk group had 76%, 52%, and 14% survival, and in the high-risk group, 61%, 15%, and 0% patients survived at 1, 3, and 6 months, respectively. In addition, there was a statistically significant survival difference (P = 0.05) in patients who received chemotherapy pre- and post-IPC insertion.

LENT score seems to be an easy and attainable tool, capable of predicting the survival of the patients with MPE quite accurately. It can be helpful in palliating the symptoms of patients with advanced malignancies by modifying the treatment strategies.