[The tactic of targeting the parietal pleura for controlling malignant pleural effusion].

Based on a hypothesis that the most effective target area for controlling malignant pleural effusion is the parietal pleura, the author has selectively carried out the multimodality treatment with limited operations combined with parietal pleurectomy (PL) followed by paclitaxel administered by 24-hour intrathoracic infusion and systemic chemotherapy. Seven patients with carcinomatous pleuritis were enrolled in the study. During a median follow-up period of 22 months, malignant effusion was controlled successfully in all patients. Although the imbalance on assessment and small sample size render the results inconclusive, the interim results presented here suggest that the tactic of targeting PL warrants further study in a less-invasive manner.