| Summary: | INTRODUCTION[|]Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) cause a decrease in the quality of life and are the most important cause of anxiety in this group of patients. Currently, it is aimed not only to eliminate the diseases but also to increase the quality of life of individuals. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of pleurodesis on the quality of life of patients with MPE.[¤]METHODS[|]Twenty-four patients who underwent pleurodesis were prospectively included in the study. Talc pleurodesis was performed to the patients by tube thoracostomy. The 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) quality of life scale was applied to the patients during their hospitalization and on day 11 of discharge. Data were analyzed statistically.[¤]RESULTS[|]Female patients comprised 70.8% (n=17) of the cases. The mean age of the patients was 54.29+-13.84 years. Fifty percent (n=12) of the cases were applied pleurodesis due to pleura metastasis of breast cancer, whereas 29.2% (n=7) due to lung cancer and the rest (20.8%, n=5) due to ovarian carcinomas, respectively. As a result of the comparison of the responses of the patients to the SF-36 quality of life results before and after the procedure, pleurodesis provided significantly positive results on all parameters (p<0.05) except for only mental health (p=0.20).[¤]DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION[|]The main reason for impairment in mental health is that patients have advanced cancers. We believe that the explanation of that is if pleurodesis does not change the stage of cancer. However, the presence of significant contribution of the treatment on all of the other parameters is an indication of how important pleurodesis is. Our study also provided hints that young patients can benefit more from pleurodesis. We think that the patient's cachexia status due to primary disease has no effect on the quality of life that pleurodesis provided. We believe that pleurodesis should be performed in all patients with MPE, if possible.[¤]
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