Diagnostic Yield of Closed Pleural Biopsy Using Cope’s Needle in the Diagnosis of Exudative Pleural Effusion

Introduction: The aetiology of pleural effusion may be difficult to diagnose based on the pleural fluid cytology, biochemical and microbiological study. Pleural biopsy using Cope’s needle may help in such cases where definitive diagnosis can not be achieved with the help of cytology. Aim: To make aetiological diagnosis of undiagnosed exudative cases using Closed Pleural Biopsy (CPB) and to determine the diagnostic yield of CPB taken by Cope’s needle in aetiologically confirmed exudative pleural effusion. Materials and Methods: This prospective observation study was conducted in Department of Pulmonary Medicine at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan, West Bengal, India, from April 2021 to March 2022 among 52 patients. Under local anaesthesia, diagnostic and therapeutic thoracocentesis were done. The pleural fluid was sent for complete biochemical, microbiological analysis, and cytology. Later, pleural biopsy was also done using Cope’s pleural biopsy needle. The variables studied were age, gender, pleural fluid cytology, pleural fluid for acid fast bacilli, Gram stain, and culture and pleural biopsy histopathology. Results: Out of 52 patients, 34 (65.4%) were males and 18 (34.6%) were females. The majority of the patients (41, 78.8%) had a right-sided pleural effusion. The mean value of lymphocytes and polymorphs count was 57.7% and 32.7%, respectively. Histopathology showed granulomatous inflammation compatible with tuberculosis in 18 (34.6%) patients, non-specific inflammation in 17 patients (32.7%), and 5 (9.6%) patients as adenocarcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma was seen in 4 (7.7%), 2 (3.8%) showed undifferentiated carcinoma, while 6 (11.5%) samples had inadequate tissue for opinion. In 6 (11.5%) cases pleural tissue was inadequate to give any opinion. 5 (9.6%) cases showed adenocarcinomas, 2 (3.8%) cases showed squamous cell carcinoma and 4 (7.7%) cases showed undifferentiated carcinoma. The true positives were 18 and 11 for tuberculous and malignant pleural effusion, respectively. The diagnostic yield of pleural biopsy was found to be 75% in case of tubercular pleural effusion and 78.6% for malignant pleural effusion. Conclusion: This study suggests that tuberculosis and malignancy are the two common aetiologies for exudative pleural effusion. Pleural biopsy plays an additional role in histopathological confirmation of aetiologically diagnosed exudative pleural effusion