https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3361
Comparative study between ultrasound-guided closed pleural biopsy and thoracoscopic pleural biopsy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions
Submitted: January 16, 2025
Accepted: January 20, 2025
Published: March 18, 2025
Accepted: January 20, 2025
Abstract Views: 450
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Authors
Pleural biopsies are often required to establish a diagnosis in exudative pleural effusions, which remain undiagnosed after initial pleural fluid analysis. Medical thoracoscopy offers a high diagnostic yield but has limited availability in resource-constrained settings. This prospective comparative study evaluated the diagnostic yield between ultrasound-guided closed pleural biopsy and medical thoracoscopy among patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions with pleural-based lesions at least 10 mm in size. Both groups achieved an equal diagnostic yield of 92% despite fewer biopsy specimens being taken in the ultrasound-guided biopsy group (4.52±0.65) compared to the thoracoscopic group (7.8±1) (p<0.0001). In conclusion, ultrasound-guided closed pleural biopsy is a suitable alternative to medical thoracoscopy in patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion having pleural thickening or nodularity of at least 10 mm in size in terms of having similar diagnostic yield as compared to medical thoracoscopy.
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Ethics Approval
This study received ethical clearance from the institute ethical committee (IEC/VMMC/SJH/Thesis/9/2022/CC-13), dated 6/10/2022.How to Cite
Sharma, Sreyas, Nitesh Gupta, Pranav Ish, Rajnish Kaushik, Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Tanmaya Talukdar, and Rohit Kumar. 2025. “Comparative Study Between Ultrasound-Guided Closed Pleural Biopsy and Thoracoscopic Pleural Biopsy in Undiagnosed Exudative Pleural Effusions”. Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease, March. https://doi.org/10.4081/monaldi.2025.3361.
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