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Classical and Minimally Invasive Approaches and Surgical Techniques for Malignant Pleural Effusions

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Thoracic Surgery

Abstract

Pleural effusion occurs when there is an imbalance between the production rate and the absorption rate, resulting in excess of pleural fluid accumulation. Lights criteria are very well known. Therefore, transudates generally reflect a systemic disorder, while exudates signify usually the existence of a local pathology (pleuro-pulmonary pathology). It is of note that malignant pleural effusion in lung cancer may be ipsilateral or bilateral (bilateral metastases) and never just contralateral or on opposed side, or it is associated with pericarditis. In true malignant pleural effusion (type I), the patient is not a candidate for curative surgical treatment, while thoracotomy with pleurectomy should be considered as a palliative method. Malignant pleural effusions have poor prognosis, and thoracoscopy is the one that establishes the diagnosis and determines the outcomes of surgery in the paraneoplastic pleural effusion.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. “Carol Davila, University of Medicine and Pharmacy”, Bucharest, Romania

    Claudiu E. Nistor

  2. Thoracic Surgery Department, “Dr. Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania

    Claudiu E. Nistor

  3. Thoracic Surgeon, Thoracic Surgery Department, “Dr. Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania

    Adrian Ciuche

  4. “Prof. C.C. Iliescu” Emergency Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bucharest, Romania

    Ecaterina Bontaș

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  1. Claudiu E. Nistor
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  2. Adrian Ciuche
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  3. Ecaterina Bontaș
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Correspondence to Ecaterina Bontaș .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. “Dr. Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania

    Claudiu E. Nistor

  2. Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK

    Steven Tsui

  3. Koşuyolu Heart and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Kaan Kırali

  4. “Dr. Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania

    Adrian Ciuche

  5. Royal Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, UK

    Giuseppe Aresu

  6. The University Hospital of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Gregor J. Kocher

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Nistor, C.E., Ciuche, A., Bontaș, E. (2020). Classical and Minimally Invasive Approaches and Surgical Techniques for Malignant Pleural Effusions. In: Nistor, C.E., Tsui, S., Kırali, K., Ciuche, A., Aresu, G., Kocher, G.J. (eds) Thoracic Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40679-0_38

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