Talc pleurodesis improves survival of patients with malignant pleural effusions

This Croatian retrospective case control study compared patients who had undergone talc pleurodesis with a control group of matched patients who were treated with serial thoracentesis.1 One hundred and seven patients with proven malignant pleural effusions (metastatic breast and lung cancer) were included. Fifty-six were treated with talc pleurodesis and a control group of 51 patients matched in age, sex and disease underwent serial thoracentesis. The overall and subgroup survival with different tumour types and different performance status (PS) 1, 2 and 3 were compared. Patients undergoing talc pleurodesis had a longer average survival interval (MS) than the patients who underwent thoracentesis (MS 21.5 and MS 9 weeks respectively, p<0.001). The best results were observed in those with PS 1 (MS 35.5 and MS 11 weeks) and PS 2 (MS 21 and MS 10 weeks). There was no difference in groups at PS 3. The authors conclude that patients treated with …