Application of VATS in Diagnosis and Treatment of Pleural Effusion of Unknown Causes

Objective To investigate the value of VATS in pleural effusion of unknown causes.Method From October 1995 to September 1999,28 patients with pleural effusion of unkuown causes accepted biopsy for pleurae and talc pleurodesis under VATS and the effects were observed.Results The overall positive histological diagnosis were obtained through VATS(28/28).It was histopathologically confirmed that among the 28 cases of pleural effusion of unknown causes,16 cases were malignant and 12 cases were benign.Talc pleurodesis was performed for all the cases,and all of the patients gained lasting pleurodesis except for one patient.The failure of pleurodesis was due to the fact that the lung could not reexpand to come into contact with the chest wall.Conclusions VATS has provided a highly positive diagnosis of patients with pleural effusions of unknown causes who could not be diagnosed by conventional method.It is also provided that talc pleurodsis under VATS is a very effective method for controlling refractory pleural effusion transendoscopically.