ArticleJournal of thoracic disease2026
Rigid mini-thoracoscopy versus semirigid pleuroscopy for undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion: a randomized controlled trial.
Article in Journal of thoracic disease, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Medical thoracoscopy is the diagnostic procedure of choice for undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion. Evidence comparing the smaller-caliber rigid mini-thoracoscope with the contemporary semirigid pleuroscope remains limited and conflicting. We compared procedure duration and biopsy specimen size between the two platforms in routine clinical practice. Methods: We conducted a single-center, parallel-group, open-label randomized controlled trial. Adults with an undiagnosed exudative or suspected malignant pleural effusion were randomly assigned 1:1 to medical thoracoscopy with a 5.5-mm rigid mini-thoracoscope or a 7-mm semirigid pleuroscope. Pulmonology fellows performed all procedures under supervision using a standardized single-port technique with conscious sedation. The primary outcome was total procedure duration (skin incision to chest-tube fixation). Secondary outcomes included biopsy specimen size, diagnostic yield, pleurodesis success at 6 weeks, intra-procedural pain [visual analog scale (VAS)], and complications. Results: Forty-four patients were randomized (22 per arm). Baseline characteristics were balanced between groups. The primary outcome favored rigid mini-thoracoscopy: median total procedure duration was 27.5 [interquartile range (IQR), 24.0-30.0] Conclusions: The 5.5-mm rigid mini-thoracoscope yielded substantially larger pleural specimens than the 7-mm semirigid pleuroscope and shortened total procedure time, with no statistically significant difference in diagnostic yield, pleurodesis success, sedation requirements, or safety, even when procedures were performed by trainee operators. The larger specimens may be advantageous when ample tissue is required for the molecular and genetic characterization increasingly central to the management of thoracic malignancy. Trial Registration: Thai Clinical Trials Registry TCTR20260508007 (retrospectively registered).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.