FREQUENCY OF MALIGNANT PLEURAL EFFUSIONS IN BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

Objective:

To determine the occurrence of malignant pleural effusions in breast cancer patients.

Study Design:

Cross-sectional study

Place/ Duration of Study:

Department of Internal Medicine, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center, Lahore, from 01 April 2024 to 31 January 2025.

Methodology:

The research team conducted this cross-sectional study at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre from 01 April 2024 to 31 January 2025. The study involved 100 female breast cancer patients who were between 18 and 68 years old and who underwent thoracocentesis with pleural fluid cytology. The researchers excluded patients with two different types of cancer. The diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion required cytological examination. Statistical analysis of data was conducted using SPSS version 25, and the researchers applied the chi-square test while they considered p-values reaching 0.05 as the threshold for statistical significance.

Results:

The mean age was 43.43 ± 10.83 years, BMI 25.69 ± 5.35 kg/m², and cancer duration 39.34 ± 32.80 months, with 62% cytology-positive cases and 38% negative cases. The study found important links between malignant pleural effusion and eight specific factors which included age (p = 0.001), cancer duration (p < 0.001), smoking habits (p = 0.004), hypertension (p = 0.007), family history (p < 0.001), cancer stage (p < 0.001), and treatment methods (p < 0.001). The examination of BMI revealed no important relationship to the study results (p = 0.357).

Conclusion:

MPE was significantly associated with age, duration of cancer, smoking, hypertension, family history, stage, and treatment type (p ≤ 0.007). BMI showed no significant association (p = 0.357), indicating that disease-related factors are the main determinants of MPE in breast cancer patients.