Outcome of patients with nonspecific pleuritis/fibrosis on thoracoscopic pleural biopsies.

Journal article

OBJECTIVE: Medical thoracoscopy is recommended in the investigation of patients with exudative pleural effusions, especially when pleural fluid analysis is uninformative. The histological finding of 'nonspecific pleuritis/fibrosis' is common in thoracoscopic biopsies and presents a great uncertainty for clinicians and patients as the long-term outcome of these patients is unclear, and anxieties about undiagnosed malignancy persist. METHOD: A retrospective case-note study of 142 patients who u...

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Authors: Davies, H; Nicholson, J; Rahman, N; Wilkinson, E; Davies, R

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 472-477
• Publication date: 2010-10-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejcts.2010.01.057
• EISSN: 1873-734X
• ISSN: 1010-7940
• Language: English
• Keywords: Pleura; Middle Aged; Thoracoscopy; Aged; Diagnosis, Differential; Mesothelioma; Pleural Neoplasms; Male; Female; Pleural Effusion, Malignant; False Negative Reactions; Pleurisy; Epidemiologic Methods; Prognosis; Humans; Pleural Effusion; Biopsy