Comparative study between ultrasound-guided closed pleural biopsy and thoracoscopic pleural biopsy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusions
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: 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 a similar diagnostic yield as compared to medical thoracoscopy.
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4408574284