Uffe Bodtger, José M. Porcel
European Respiratory Journal 2024 63: 2400037; DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00037-2024 

Extract

Malignancy is the most common cause of exudative pleural effusions [1, 2]. About 40% of patients with lung cancer, which is the predominant aetiology of malignant pleurisy [3], develop pleural effusions during the course of their illness [4]. In addition, approximately 90% of pleural mesotheliomas exhibit a unilateral pleural effusion on computed tomography (CT) [5]. Pleural fluid cytological examination remains the gold standard for diagnosing malignant pleural effusion (MPE). However, its overall sensitivity is roughly 50%, and remains particularly low in squamous cell lung cancer (14–24%) and mesothelioma (6–30%) [6, 7].