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Updated: Jul 25, 2025

Local Anesthetic Thoracoscopy for Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion
Published on: November 10, 2023
A Study of Role of Medical Thoracoscopy in Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion
Vishakha Kapadia1, Savita Jindal2, Pratik Patel3
1Associate Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Smt NHL Municipal Medical College; Corresponding Author.
Aim And Objectives:
b/pulli>To know the diagnostic yield of pleuroscopy (medical thoracoscopy) in cases of pleural effusions which remain undiagnosed after routine initial investigations.lili>To notice the different gross pleuroscopic findings during the procedure.lili>To observe various histopathological reports of pleural biopsy taken through medical thoracoscopy.lili>To know the various complications of pleuroscopy in patients undergoing this procedure.li/ulp!
Materials And Methods:
A total of 56 patients having undiagnosed pleural effusion were taken for study after informed written consent. All patients underwent medical thoracoscopy. The clinical, demographic, and radiological profile of patients was recorded. Gross pleuroscopic findings and histopathological reports of the pleural biopsy were noted. All patients were observed for any complications that occurred during or after the procedure.
Result:
Diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy in the present study was 91.07% (malignant pleural effusion 75% and tuberculous pleuritis 12.5%). Adenocarcinoma was the commonest malignancy in 60.71% of patients amongst malignant pleural effusion in the present study. Very few complications were recorded. The most common postprocedure complication was subcutaneous emphysema (12.5%) followed by pneumothorax (10.78%).
Conclusion:
Thoracoscopy gives excellent diagnostic yield in undiagnosed pleural effusion without major complications, and should be utilized wherever feasible.
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