Indwelling pleural catheters versus chest tube and talc pleurodesis in malignant pleural effusion

摘要

Malignant pleural effusion causes dyspnoea in more than 1 million people annually and current guidelines recommend chest tube insertion and talc slurry as first-line treatment. This unblinded randomised controlled trial aimed to determine whether indwelling pleural catheters (IPCs) are more effective at relieving dyspnoea in patients with malignant effusions than chest tube and talc pleurodesis. One hundred and six patients were recruited from 7 UK centres between April 2007 and February 2011 and were followed up for a year. The primary outcome was mean daily dyspnoea over the first 42 days as measured by the patients by a 100-mm line visual analogue scale measured by two independent researchers. The study showed that patient reported dyspnoea improved in both groups, but there was no significant difference between the IPC group and the talc group.