VIDEOTHORACOSCOPY FOR PLEURAL EFFUSION: A REVIEW OF 47 CASES

Can KÜRKÇÜOĞLU^{Nurettin KARAOĞLANOĞLU}, Mehmet ÜNLÜ

Atatürk Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Göğüs Cerrahisi Anabilim Dalı, ERZURUM
^*Atatürk Göğüs Hastalıkları ve Göğüs Cerrahisi Merkezi, ANKARA

Background:
In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic and treatment values of videothoracoscopy in patients with pleural effusion.

Methods:
47 patients underwent video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) between March 1994 and March 2000 in Thoracic Surgery Center, Atatürk Chest Diseases Hospital and Department of Thoracic Surgery Atatürk University Faculty of Medicine. Of the patients 32 were male and 15 were female, the mean age was 48.2 year (range 19 to 74 years). The procedure was performed under general anesthesia and single lung ventilation in 45 patients, and local anesthesia in 2 patients.

Results:
Of the patients, 40 had benign and 7 had malignant disease. The diagnostic value of the procedure has 97.9%. In patients with malignant disease pleurodesis was performed to obtain cure. No complication occurred in our cases.

Conclusions:
It was thought that videothoracoscopy is an effective procedure in diagnosis and palliative treatment of pleural effusion.

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