ABSTRACT

Malignant pleural effusions (MPE) are a common consequence of malignancy and result in substantial morbidity for those inflicted. With the virtual epidemic of lung cancer and breast cancer, both in the United States and worldwide, clinicians will face the challenge of managing patients with malignant pleural effusions, as the aforementioned cancers are the most common cause of these effusions. For example, in the United States there are approximately 160,000 deaths due to lung cancer and 44,000 deaths due to breast cancer annually (1). Based on the reported incidence of malignant pleural effusions in lung cancer (8-15%) and breast cancer (2-12%), clinicians in the United States can expect to care for approximately 75,000 patients a year with malignant pleural effusions due to lung cancer and 30,000 patients annually with breast cancer (1). With the estimated incidence of malignant pleural effusion in lymphoma of 7% and the contribution from nonlung primaries, more than 150,000 cases of malignant pleural effusions are diagnosed in the United States annually (1).