The diagnosis of pleural diseases is one of the frequent clinical problems. Despite a
variety of diagnostic tests are available for evaluating pleural effusions, approximately 15–
20% of pleural effusions remains undiagnosed, In this cases ,a thora
coscopy plays an
important role, it permits the surgeon to visually view and evaluate the entire pleural space
,and to obtain enough accurate biopsies from suspected areas. This study aims to evaluate
the effectivenes of Video Assisted
Thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in diagnosis of pleural effusions.
Between June 2012 and June 2015 we performed 38diagnostic thorososcopy for
undiagnosed pleural effusions. The histopathologic studies of pleural biopsies result were
as follows : )%60,5 ( malignancies,)%31,6 ( TB And )%7,9 ( nonspecific inflammatory
reaction.
The malignant diseases are: Mesothelioma )%60,9(, Metastases of adenocarcinoma
)%30,4(,Lymphoma )% 8,7(
4 Complications ,with no mortality.
Conclusion: Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery is a safe and accurate diagnostic
procedure for pleural diseases but it also has a very useful role in therapy.(VATS) saves
time, effort and cost, more over it is preferred by the patient as he recovers and returns to
his normal activity rapidly.
we have started applying assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) in AL-ASSAD
University hospital in Damascus in 1992 and we achieved in a period past 332
different operations, most of them were done under general anesthesia, only 48
cases were done
under local, due to the risk of general anesthesia. The age of
patients varied between 13-72 year.
