Ultrasound guidance reduces pneumothorax rate and improves safety of thoracentesis in malignant pleural effusion: report on 445 consecutive patients with advanced cancer

Background Malignant pleural effusion(MPE) is an extremely common problem affecting cancer patients, and thoracentesisis an essential procedure in an attempt to delineate the etiology of the fluid collections and to relieve symptoms in affected patients. One of the most common complications of thoracentesisis pneumothorax, which has been reported to occur in 20% to 39% of thoracenteses, with 15% to 50% of patients with pneumothoraxrequiring tube thoracostomy. The present study was carried out to assess whether thoracenteses in cancer patients performed with ultrasound (US) guidance are associated with a lower rates of pneumothoraxand tube thoracostomythan those performed without US guidance.