[Malignant pleural effusions: recourse to early use of talc]

Our purpose was to assess the efficacy, permanence and safety of thoracoscopic talc poudrage (TTP) for pleurodesis in malignant effusions. We report the follow-up of 360 patients who received TTP in two centers in Marseille (France).

Eighty-eight patients presented with mesothelioma and 272 had pleural metastasis. The mean follow-up time was 12 months (range: 2-120). Out of the 327 patients whose response could be evaluated, 90.2% had a successful pleurodesis at 1 month, and 82.1% had a life-long pleural symphysis. Adverse effects included one death 3 days after the procedure in an end-stage patient, fever (9.8%), infection of the parietal scar (2.5%) and pulmonary infection (0.8%).

TTP is an effective and safe method of life-long pleurodesis. It should be performed early on in the history of malignant effusions to avoid failures of the technic, mainly linked to trapped lung and to the general condition of patients.