Research Article

Comparison of Diagnostic Yield and Safety between Semirigid Pleuroscopic Cryobiopsy and Forceps Biopsy for Undiagnosed Pleural Effusion

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the study population.

VariablesTotal, Cryobiopsy, Forceps biopsy, value

Age, median (IQR)64.4 (55.4–76.4)64.6 (55.3–73.4)64.4 (55.4–77.6)0.590
Male gender30 (66.7%)21 (75.0%)9 (52.9%)0.128
Smoking status
 Currently smoke7 (15.6%)3 (10.7%)4 (23.5%)0.250
 Had quit smoke5 (11.1%)5 (17.9%)0 (0.0%)0.065
 Never smoke32 (71.1%)19 (67.9%)13 (76.5%)0.537
Location of pleural effusion
 Right20 (40.0%)10 (35.7%)10 (58.8%)0.130
 Left18 (40.0%)14 (50.0%)4 (23.5%)0.079
 Bilateral7 (15.6%)4 (14.3%)3 (17.6%)0.763
Pleural effusion LDH (mg/dL), median (IQR)394 (187–956)635 (275.3–1290.3)273 (143–501.5)0.030
Pleural effusion total protein (mg/dL), median (IQR)4.5 (4.0–5.2)4.6 (4.0–5.1)4.5 (3.9–5.3)1.000
Serum LDH (mg/dL), median (IQR)241.5 (199.8–315.5)242 (228.3–307.8)215.5 (179.8–321.2)0.370
Serum total protein (mg/dL), median (IQR)6.8 (5.7–7.1)6.9 (6.3–7.2)6.2 (5.3–6.8)0.081
Pleural effusion/serum LDH ratio2.49 ± 4.383.16 ± 5.461.42 ± 1.200.333
Pleural effusion/serum total protein ratio0.67 ± 0.130.66 ± 0.140.67 ± 0.120.787