Abstract
Abstract
Background
Chemical pleurodesis is a standard palliative intervention for recurrent malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Historically, patient rotation after sclerosant instillation was routine to ensure uniform drug distribution, but evidence supporting this practice remains conflicting. The study question was, does doxycycline pleurodesis without patient rotation demonstrate comparable efficacy and safety to the standard rotation protocol?
Methods
This pilot randomized trial included 40 patients with recurrent MPE eligible for pleurodesis. Patients were randomized (1:1) to either a Rotation group (
n
= 20), which underwent a 2-h sequential rotation, or a Non-Rotation group (
n
= 20), which remained supine. The primary outcome was pleurodesis success at 1 month, assessed by chest ultrasonography. The secondary outcome was the Pleural Adherence Score (PAS) to objectively assess drug distribution and pain assessment.
Results
The mean age was 56.5 years. Pleurodesis success rates were identical between the rotation and non-rotation groups 85% (17/20) vs. 85% (17/20);
P
> 0.99, though the confidence interval was wide (− 22.13% to 22.13%). Crucially, ultrasound-derived PAS scores at day 1 were high and comparable between groups (Mean 20.0 vs. 21.2;
P
= 0.33), confirming effective sclerosant distribution without rotation. There were no significant differences in pain scores, drainage duration, or complication rates between the two groups.
Conclusion
Omitting patient rotation during doxycycline pleurodesis for MPE demonstrated comparable 1-month efficacy in this pilot study, though larger trials are needed to establish definitive equivalence. These findings support a simplified non-rotation protocol to reduce patient burden.
Trial registration
The trial was retrospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT07147270). ClinicalTrials.gov PRS: Home page (Modernized) published 08/29/2025.