De Heer M, Cornelissen R, Hoogsteden HC, van den Toorn LM. Management of recurrent malignant pleural effusions with a tunneled indwelling pleural catheter. World J Respirol 2015; 5(2): 135-139 [DOI: 10.5320/wjr.v5.i2.135]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Marieke De Heer, MD, PhD, Department of Pulmonary Disease and Tuberculosis, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. i.m.deheer@erasmusmc.nl
Research Domain of This Article
Respiratory System
Article-Type of This Article
Minireviews
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Respirol. Jul 28, 2015; 5(2): 135-139 Published online Jul 28, 2015. doi: 10.5320/wjr.v5.i2.135
Management of recurrent malignant pleural effusions with a tunneled indwelling pleural catheter
Marieke De Heer, Robin Cornelissen, Henk C Hoogsteden, Leon M van den Toorn
Marieke De Heer, Robin Cornelissen, Henk C Hoogsteden, Leon M van den Toorn, Department of Pulmonary Disease and Tuberculosis, Erasmus Medical Center, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Author contributions: De Heer M wrote the article; Cornelissen R, Hoogsteden HC and van den Toorn LM all contributed to reviewing the article before submission.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors have any conflicts-of-interest related to writing this review.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Marieke De Heer, MD, PhD, Department of Pulmonary Disease and Tuberculosis, Erasmus Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. i.m.deheer@erasmusmc.nl
Telephone: +31-10-7034870 Fax: +31-10-7034871
Received: October 2, 2014 Peer-review started: October 3, 2014 First decision: November 4, 2014 Revised: January 27, 2015 Accepted: March 18, 2015 Article in press: March 20, 2015 Published online: July 28, 2015 Processing time: 305 Days and 18.8 Hours
Abstract
In this review, we report on the use of indwelling pleural catheters in the treatment of malignant pleural effusions. We describe the most commonly used catheter. Also, treatment with indwelling pleural catheters as compared to talc pleurodesis is reviewed. A comparison of efficacy, costs, effects on quality of life, and complications is made. Only one randomized controlled trial comparing the two is available up to date, but several are underway. We conclude that treatment for malignant pleural effusions with indwelling pleural catheters is a save, cost-effective, and patient-friendly method, with low complication rates.
Core tip: Indwelling pleural catheters appear to be as efficient and cost-effective as talc pleurodesis in the treatment of malignant pleural effusions with a low complications rate. A great advantage is that terminally ill patients can be treated at home in the last stage of their lives.
