Lateral decubitus chest radiography or chest ultrasound to predict pleural adhesions before medical thoracoscopy: a prospective study.

Background: Medical thoracoscopy (MT) is the gold-standard to investigate unexplained pleural exudates. However, the major prerequisite is an easy pleural access obtained by creating an artificial pneumothorax at the beginning of the procedure which can be a challenge in case of pleural adhesions and make the procedure unsafe. The detection of pleural adhesions prior to MT is necessary.