[Radiological changes of talc pleurodesis in cases of effusion]

This study is based on the observations of 86 pleurodesis done by talc insufflation during thoracoscopy in 82 patients suffering from benign (8%) and malignant (92%) pleural effusions. Serial chest films were obtained on every patient. Chest computed tomography was obtained in ten patients. The most frequent finding seen in the early phase and one month later was the appearance of loculations (94%) in selective areas of the thorax. Occasionally they take the appearance of airfluid levels (22%). These loculations are characteristically located in the axillary (60%), intrafissural (30%) and paramediastinal (34%) areas of the chest. In the late phase with a mean evolution time of 6 months, these loculations evolve in 77% of patients in areas of pleural thickening. CT of the chest demonstrates the presence of characteristic pleural thickening in the form of coarse (5/12) and/or fine linear densities (7/12) corresponding to talc deposits, on the pleural surface. These modifications are shown by light microscopy examination of the pleural done at the autopsy.