To treat symptoms brought on by a large, recurring malignant pleural effusion,
chemical pleurodesis is recommended. Before pleurodesis, a drain is left in the
pleural space until the pleural fluid collection stops. As little as 50ml of pleural
fluid can be found using chest ultrasonography, which can also verify the pleural
surfaces’ conjunction, a sign of successful pleurodesis.
Patients and methods
Thirty patients with malignant pleural effusion had intercostal tube insertion as part
of this interventional trial. Before the sclerosing drug was injected, transthoracic
ultrasonography was used to evaluate each case to see whether the sliding sign
was present. A month later, a follow-up transthoracic ultrasound was performed to
evaluate the sliding sign, which indicates whether the pleurodesis was successful
or not.
Results
The mean age of participants was 60±12 years, with slightly more males (53.3%,
n=16) than females (46.7%, n=14). Two-thirds (66.7%) reported chest pain, while
half of the patients (50%) had complained of cough. The majority (76.7%, n=23)
presented with pleural nodules. Every participant (100%) demonstrated the
presence of both effusion and collapse in the computed tomography images. Most
of the cases (63.3%, n=19) were treated with bleomycin during pleurodesis. All
patients (100%) demonstrated the presence of the sliding sign before pleurodesis
with significant absence after the procedure (P