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VOLUME 60 , ISSUE 2 ( April-June, 2018 ) > List of Articles

Original Article

Medical Thoracoscopy: A Rapidly Evolving Diagnostic Modality in Undiagnosed Effusion

Gopal Purohit, KK Shameel Ahammed, Sunil Vyas, Hemant Borana, Sandeep Vernaker, TA Aswathy

Keywords : Medical thoracoscopy, Tuberculosis, Undiagnosed pleural effusion, Pleural biopsy

Citation Information : Purohit G, Ahammed KS, Vyas S, Borana H, Vernaker S, Aswathy T. Medical Thoracoscopy: A Rapidly Evolving Diagnostic Modality in Undiagnosed Effusion. Indian J Chest Dis Allied Sci 2018; 60 (2):77-80.

DOI: 10.5005/ijcdas-60-2-77

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 18-11-2022

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2018; The Author(s).


Abstract

Background: The diagnostic focus for exudative pleural effusion is to recognise the aetiology of intra-pleural disease. We describe our experience in the outcome and analysis of medical thoracoscopy in undiagnosed pleural effusion. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2016 to March 2017 using Olympus (LTF-160) semi-rigid thoracoscope. Results: Forty-eight patients with undiagnosed pleural effusion underwent medical thoracoscopy; out of whom 36 patients (75%) were males. The diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy in our study was 89.6%. Malignancy was the most common histological diagnosis in 54.2% of cases, 35.4% were diagnosed with tuberculosis and 10.4% with non-specific pleuritis. There were no major complications. Conclusions: Medical thoracoscopy is an extremely useful diagnostic modality that can often contribute crucially to accurate clinical decision making in patients with undiagnosed pleural effusion. The greatest advantage is the ease in handling the semi-rigid thoracoscope by bronchoscopist which is essentially similar to the use of flexible bronchoscope.

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