Closed percutaneous pleural biopsy. A lost art in the new era.

Objective: To assess the association between size and number of biopsy specimens obtained by percutaneous closed pleural biopsy, with overall diagnostic yield in general, and histopathological evidence of tuberculosis pleurisy, in particular.

Methods: One hundred and forty-three patients, with a high index of clinically having tuberculous pleurisy, were referred to the respiratory division of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital in Kuwait during a 9-year period (January 1999 to December 2007). All subjects with exudative lymphocytic predominant effusion underwent percutaneous closed pleural biopsy, looking for tuberculous granulomas.