Bedside ultrasonography to determine pleurodesis success: SIMPLE but how sound?

Abstract

Chemical pleurodesis—the iatrogenic sealing of the pleural cavity using a sclerosant—is commonly practised worldwide. More than 10 000 pleurodesis procedures are carried out each year in the USA alone for malignant pleural effusions (MPEs). Talc remains the most efficacious sclerosing agent, and all randomised controlled trials to date have found delivering talc as a slurry via a chest tube to be as effective as its insufflation (poudrage) thoracoscopically.1 Hence, talc slurry pleurodesis remains a key option in MPE management guidelines.