ReviewAnnals of translational medicine2019
Malignant pleural effusion and cancer of unknown primary site: a review of literature.
Review in Annals of translational medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Clinical characteristics, treatment response, and survival outcomes in melanoma patients with cavity carcinomatosis: A retrospective analysis.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Hyperthermic Intrathoracic Chemotherapy and Photodynamic Therapy: A Single-Institution Experience for Malignant Pleural Diseases.Oncology · 2026Article
- A rare case of acute erythroid leukemia (AML M6-Er) with pleural metastasis and malignant pleural effusion in a cat.The Journal of veterinary medical science · 2025Article
- Tumor Markers in Pleural Fluid: A Comprehensive Study on Diagnostic Accuracy.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- A Microfluidic System for Detecting Tumor Cells Based on Biomarker Hexaminolevulinate (HAL): Applications in Pleural Effusion.Micromachines · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Diagnostic value of periostin in lung cancer-related malignant pleural effusion.Journal of clinical laboratory analysis · 2022Article
- Application of the international system for reporting serous fluid cytopathology on reporting various body fluids; experience of a tertiary care hospital.CytoJournal · 2022Article
- Initial panel of immunocytochemical markers for identification of primary carcinoma site for effusions and peritoneal washings from women.International journal of clinical and experimental pathology · 2022Article
- 90-Gene Expression Profiling for Tissue Origin Diagnosis of Cancer of Unknown Primary.Frontiers in oncology · 2021Article
- Liquid biopsy approaches for pleural effusion in lung cancer patients.Molecular biology reports · 2020Review
- Cancer of Unknown Primary Site: Real Entity or Misdiagnosed Disease?Journal of Cancer · 2020Review
- Medical Thoracoscopy for the Management of Exudative Pleural Effusion: A Retrospective Study.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2020Article
- A Case of CUP with Malignant Pleural Effusion: Overcoming Diagnostic and Therapeutic Hurdles with Chemotherapy.Case reports in oncologyArticle
- Application of Indian Academy of Cytologists Guidelines for Reporting Serous Effusions: An Institutional Experience.Journal of cytologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Malignant pleural effusions (MPE) are most frequently (50-65%) noted from lung and breast cancers. They are commonly unilateral and are reflective of poorer prognosis. Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) account for 4-5% of all invasive cancers. These are metastatic tumors in which the primary is unknown despite an extensive medical evaluation. About 11% of MPE are from CUP. These MPEs present a clinical dilemma to physicians as there is a paucity of literature on their management and no consensus or guideline statement. This paper provides an overview of MPE from CUP in regard to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment options. A selective search was performed in Medline and PubMed, with the keywords "Malignant pleural effusion" and "Cancer of unknown primary" up to December 2018. A review of literature would suggest that a thoracentesis is the first step in all cases but additional work up such as thoracoscopy & pleural biopsies is frequently warranted. With advances in immunohistochemical staining and biomarker development, MPE with CUP maybe profiled in a similar manner as lung cancer. Similarly, liquid biopsy or identification of circulating tumor cell free DNA may have a role in the work up of CUP in the future. There is some experience in managing these patients with gene directed therapies and immune checkpoint inhibitors, however, with mixed results. Given the poor prognosis associated with MPE from CUP, symptom alleviating measures such as indwelling pleural catheters should be part of the management strategy.
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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.