Medical Thoracoscopy

Thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure traditionally performed to diagnose and/or treat pleural lung disease. Your pleura is a large, thin sheet of tissue that wraps around the outside of your lungs and lines the inside of your chest cavity. Patients with pleural thickening or pleural effusions (pleural fluid) who have lung cancer, chylothorax, lymphoma, mesothelioma, metastatic cancers, or benign conditions such as congestive heart failure, may be eligible for this procedure. Most patients have reoccurring accumulation of pleural fluid resulting in breathing issues, chest pain, cough, and the inability to lie flat. Thoracoscopy lets the physician visualize the lung pleura and diagnose the cause of the pleural fluid, which offers the ability to apply medication to prevent further fluid from returning.