Ultrasonic Elastography-guided Pleural Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Pleural Effusion: A Multicentre Prospective Study of Diagnostic Test Performance

Deng M, Ye X, Ma J, Xia Y, Zhang Q, Jiang B, Wu J, Wen Q, Zheng Y, Yin Y, Tong R, Zhou G, Yao H, Li X, Herth FJF, Hou G, Wang C

Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2023 Sep;20(9):1242-1249.

What is the key question?

  • To determine safety, feasibility and diagnostic yield of the new technique of ultrasonic elastography-guided pleural biopsy (UEGPB) in pleural disease

What is the bottom line?

  • This multicentre study of UEGPB in ~100 patients demonstrated a diagnostic yield of 92.9% for causes of pleural effusion with pleural thickness <5mm that also lacked pleural nodularity
  • UEGPB had a sensitivity of 88.7% for diagnosing malignant pleural disease, with 100% specificity
  • Molecular profiling was able to be performed in 100% of UEGPB and there were no major complications

Why read on?

  • The authors detail the technique performance and its use in guiding percutaneous pleural biopsies