Introduction:

The malignant recurrent pleural effusion reproduces in short time and it requires a positive etiological diagnosis of malignancy, the most frequent etiology is lung cancer. Chemical pleurodesis is the treatment of choice with the intrapleural application of symphysiating substances.

Objective:

To describe the clinical and radiological response of patients with malignant recurrent pleural effusion with the use of bleomycin.

Method:

A comparative observational study in 30 patients with recurrent malignant pleural effusion was carried out. They were divided into two groups, one used intrapleural bleomycin and the other group used povidone iodine.

Result:

33.3% were male, 60% belonged to the 60-69 age group. The group treated with bleomycin presented favorable clinical response in symptoms, p <0.005 after pleurodesis. At the evaluation of the radiological response, 66.6% patients treated with bleomycin had a complete resolution.

Conclusions:

Good clinical-radiological response was achieved with similar chemical pleurodesis between both treatment modalities. Better results and fewer adverse reactions were obtained with intrapleural bleomycin.

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