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Malignant Pleural Effusion: Pleur-X vs. Chemical Pleurodesis in VATS

Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of the Permanent Thoracic Catheter (Pleur-X) Towards Pleurodesis in Thoracoscopy in the Treatment of Malignant Pleural Effusion

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03518788
Acronym
Pleur-X
Enrollment
234
Registered
2018-05-08
Start date
2018-01-25
Completion date
2020-12-31
Last updated
2018-05-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Malignant Pleural Effusion

Brief summary

This is a prospective randomized study whose aim is to compare the efficacy of the permanent thoracic catheter (Pleur-X) versus chemical pleurodesis in videothoracoscopy (VATS) in the treatment of malignant pleural effusion at the first diagnosis.Patients with malignant pleural effusion for whom there is indication of surgery and who agree to participate in the study will be randomized 1: 1 in the Pleur-X arm (arm 1) or in the chemical pleurodesis arm (arm 2). The arm 1 provides for the installation of a permanent drainage under local anesthesia while the arm 2 provides a pleurodesis with talc in VATS under general anesthesia. Both procedures are standard of care.

Detailed description

Before the study procedure the patients will be requested to perform some examination as physical and radiological examination. Patients will also complete questionnaires for quality of life assessment (EORTC QLQ 30) and symptoms (VAS for pain). Patients will then be randomized into one of the two arms. For patients included in arm 1, a permanent drainage (Pleur-X) is provided under local anesthesia performed on an outpatient basis while for patients included in arm 2 a pleurodesis with talc in VATS is planned under general anesthesia. Arm 2 patients will be hospitalized for 5 days. Patients will then be followed up to 3 months after surgery. During this period a medical examination will be required at 1 week, 4 weeks and 3 months after the intervention during which the patient will be asked to complete questionnaires for the evaluation of quality of life (EORTC QLQ 30) and symptoms (VAS for pain ). A chest radiograph will be performed after four weeks to evaluate the primary parameter. Adverse events will be collected throughout the study period.

Interventions

PROCEDUREPleur-X

Permanent drainage

PROCEDUREPleurodesis

Pleurodesis with talc in permanent VATS

Sponsors

Clinical Trial Unit Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale
CollaboratorOTHER
Rolf Inderbitzi
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 80 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Age ≥ 18 years, \<80 years * First diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion * Indication to treat the malignant pleural effusion with surgery * Informed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

* Previous surgeries on the same hemitorace * Pregnant women * Trapped lung syndrome * Patients with estimated life expectancy \< 4-8 weeks

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Success rate of the treatment with VPM4 weeksEvaluate the success rate of the treatment with VPM with radiological examination

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Adverse Event3 monthsEvaluate the tollerability of both procedures collecting adverse events
Quality of live3 monthsquality of live will be determined with the evaluation of the EORTC QLQ 30 questionnaire
Pain scale3 monthsPain will be evaluated with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) where the score of 0 is no pain while the score 10 is very painfull

Countries

Switzerland

Contacts

Primary ContactRolf Inderbitzi, MD
rolf.inderbitzi@eoc.ch+41 (0)91 811 91 76
Backup ContactStefano Cafarotti, MD
stefano.cafarotti@eoc.ch+41 (0)91 811 93 40

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026