ArticleJournal of thoracic disease2019
Computed tomography of the chest in unilateral pleural effusions: outcome of the British Thoracic Society guideline.
Article in Journal of thoracic disease, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lung Ultrasound for Pleural Effusion in Cancer Patients: Advanced Ultrasound for Pleural Lesions-A Narrative Review.Cancers · 2025Review
- Malignant Pleural Effusion: Diagnosis and Treatment-Up-to-Date Perspective.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2024Review
- Implementation of evidence on management of pleural diseases: insights from a territory-wide survey of clinicians in Hong Kong.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe guidelines from the British Thoracic Society (BTS) regarding the investigation of unilateral pleural effusions recommend computed tomography (CT) in exudates. We decided to investigate if clinicians follow BTS guidelines' recommendations with respect to CT in patients with unilateral pleural effusions. Secondly, to investigate the diagnostic consequences of following and not following this recommendation.
methodsThe study was a retrospective, non-randomized study including consecutive patients referred to our tertiary centers in 2013-2016 because of unilateral pleural effusion. Patients undergoing chest CT for unilateral pleural effusion of unknown cause after thoracentesis and chest X-ray were included. Patients were categorized as having pleural exudates or transudates, according to Light's criteria, if applicable. We registered use of CT, and calculated diagnostic values.
resultsIn total, 323 of the 465 included patients underwent CT (69%). CT was performed in the majority of patients not having an exudate (transudates: n=40; 54%; Light's criteria not assessed: n=111; 67%).
conclusionsClinicians appear not to follow BTS guidelines when deciding to perform chest CT. The relevance of this deviation is supported by the superior sensitivity of CT non-guideline supported CT. Overall, CT is associated with suboptimal sensitivity and negative predictive values for the diagnosis of thoracic malignancy.
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