Trial reportTrials2015
The efficacy of indwelling pleural catheter placement versus placement plus talc sclerosant in patients with malignant pleural effusions managed exclusively as outpatients (IPC-PLUS): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Trials, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Talc pleurodesis in malignant pleural effusion: a systematic review and meta-analysis.General thoracic and cardiovascular surgery · 2021Pooled it
- Interventions for the management of malignant pleural effusions: a network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Trial
- Affordable use of indwelling pleural catheters for malignant pleural effusion.Lung India : official organ of Indian Chest Society · 2026Article
- Talc pleurodesis versus indwelling pleural catheter for refractory pleural effusion: a prospective study of survival and complications.European journal of medical research · 2026Article
- Indwelling pleural catheter efficacy and safety in malignant vs. non-malignant pleural effusions: a prospective study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- Re-evaluating breast malignant pleural effusion: toward evidence-based, precision-aligned care with organoids.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Indwelling pleural catheters and medical thoracoscopy.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2025Review
- Malignant pleural effusion: current understanding and therapeutic approach.Respiratory research · 2024Review
- ERS International Congress 2023: highlights from the Thoracic Oncology Assembly.ERJ open research · 2024Article
- Malignant pleural disease.Breathe (Sheffield, England) · 2023Review
- Use of tunneled pleural catheters in chronic empyema: Two case reports and brief review of the literature.Respiratory medicine case reports · 2022Article
- Malignant Pleural Effusions-A Review of Current Guidelines and Practices.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Review
- Manometry performed at indwelling pleural catheter insertion to predict unexpandable lung.Journal of thoracic disease · 2020Article
- Diagnosis and management of malignant pleural effusions: state of the art in 2017.Journal of thoracic disease · 2017Review
- Indwelling Pleural Catheters for Patients with Hematologic Malignancies. A 14-Year, Single-Center Experience.Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2017Article
- Current best practice in the evaluation and management of malignant pleural effusions.Therapeutic advances in respiratory disease · 2017Review
- Management of malignant pleural effusion: challenges and solutions.Cancer management and research · 2017Review
- Advanced medical interventions in pleural disease.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2016Review
- Malignant pleural effusion: from bench to bedside.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMalignant pleural effusions (MPEs) remain a common problem, with 40,000 new cases in the United Kingdom each year and up to 250,000 in the United States. Traditional management of MPE usually involves an inpatient stay with placement of a chest drain, followed by the instillation of a pleural sclerosing agent such as talc, which aims to minimise further fluid build-up. Despite a good success rate in studies, this approach can be expensive, time-consuming and inconvenient for patients. More recently, an alternative method has become available in the form of indwelling pleural catheters (IPCs), which can be inserted and managed in an outpatient setting. It is currently unknown whether combining talc pleurodesis with IPCs will provide improved pleural symphysis rates over those of IPCs alone. METHODS/
designIPC-PLUS is a patient-blind, multicentre randomised controlled trial (RCT) comparing the combination of talc with an IPC to the use of an IPC alone for inducing pleurodesis in MPEs. The primary outcome is successful pleurodesis at five weeks post-randomisation. This study will recruit 154 patients, with an interim analysis for efficacy after 100 patients, and aims to help to define the future gold standard for outpatient management of patients with symptomatic MPEs. DISCUSSION: IPC-PLUS is the first RCT to examine the practicality and utility of talc administered via an IPC. The study remains in active recruitment and has the potential to significantly alter how patients requiring pleurodesis for MPE are approached in the future.
trial registrationThis trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials (identifier: ISRCTN73255764 ) on 23 August 2012.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.