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

Table 2

Final diagnoses and complications.

	Cryobiopsy,	Forceps biopsy,	value
Sample pieces	7 (3.5–8)	6 (5–7.5)	0.686
Tissue size
Length (mm)	9.1 ± 5.7	5.3 ± 3.8	0.020
Area (mm^2)	56.0 ± 61.3	10.2 ± 14.3	0.001
Volume (mm^3)	232.1 ± 411.4	13.4 ± 22.6	0.009
Bleeding
Moderate/severe	0	0	—
Mild	3	1	0.581
No bleeding	25	16	0.581
Subcutaneous emphysema	0	0
Pneumothorax	0	0
Pneumomediastinum	0	0
Wound infection	0	0
Diagnostic rate	89.3% (25/28)	88.2% (15/17)	0.913
Hospital stay after pleuroscopic biopsy (days), median (IQR)	11 (8–14.5)	11 (7–18)	0.916
Final diagnosis
Malignancy	16 (57.1%)	9 (52.9%)
Tuberculosis pleurisy	4 (14.3%)	3 (17.6%)
Fibrinous pleuritis	5 (17.9%)	2 (11.8%)
Wegener’s granulomatosis	0 (0%)	1 (5.9%)
Undiagnosed	3 (10.7%)	2 (11.8%)