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Background: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) complicates many neoplasms and its incidence is expected to rise in parallel with the aging population and longer survival of cancer patients. Although a clear consensus exists on indwelling catheters in patients with poor performance status, no study has hitherto compared different devices in patients requiring temporary or definitive drainage following talc poudrage., Methods: This is a prospective, two-arm, pilot study on patients with MPE undergoing talc poudrage, comparing two different catheters (PleurX ® versus Pleurocath ® ) positioned because of the inefficacy of the procedure or the high risk of short-term failure. End points of the study were quality of life (QoL), median dyspnea and chest pain assessment by EORTC questionnaires and a 100 mm visual analog scale, total in-hospital length of stay and frequency of serious adverse events., Results: No difference was observed between the two groups in in mean dyspnea and mean chest pain in any questions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 questionnaires. Duration of the procedure was significantly longer in the PleurX ® group versus the Pleurocath ® group (72±33 versus 44±13 minutes; P=0.03). No difference was observed between the two groups in total length of hospital stay (P=1.00) or complication rate (P=1.00)., Conclusions: For the cohort of patients still needing indwelling pleural catheters (PC) after thoracoscopic talc poudrage, PleurX ® is suggested when drain removal is unlikely due to short life expectancy or the high chance of pleurodesis failure. Conversely, Pleurocath ® should be recommended in all other patients as it is faster to place and easier to remove., Keywords: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE); talc poudrage; indwelling pleural catheter (indwelling PC)., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: Novel cancer biomarkers like microRNA (miRNA) are promising tools to gain a better understanding of lung cancer pathology and yield important information to guide therapy. In recent years, new less invasive methods for the diagnosis and staging of NSCLC have become key tools in thoracic oncology and the worldwide spread of endobronchial ultrasound transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). However, appropriate specimen handling is mandatory to achieve adequate results and reproducibility. The aim of this single centre prospective study was to evaluate the feasibility of a complete miRNA expression profile in fresh NSCLC cell lines obtained by EBUS-TBNA., Methods: Patients with proven NSCLC underwent EBUS-TBNA for the diagnosis of suspect lymph node metastasis, and cytological specimens were collected for epithelial cell culture and miRNA expression analysis. To validate the miRNA expression profile, we compared the results from EBUS-TBNA NSCLC specimens with those obtained from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) mediastinoscopy specimens., Results: Analysis of the miRNA expression profiles of three independent EBUS-TBNA-derived primary cell lines allowed the screening of 377 different human miRNAs. One hundred and fifty miRNAs were detected in all cell lines. Analysis of the miRNA expression profile in mediastinoscopy specimens showed a strong similarity in the clusters analysed., Conclusions: The miRNA expression profile is feasible and reliable in EBUS-TBNA specimens. Validation of this protocol in fresh cytological specimens represents an effective and reproducible method to correlate translational and clinical research., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.