Many people living with cancer also experience a build-up of fluid between their lungs and their chest wall. This build-up of fluid (known as 'pleural effusion') puts pressure on the lungs which causes severe breathlessness. Pleural effusion affects about 250,000 new patients each year in the UK & US. These symptoms appear in 25 per cent of patients with lung cancer, 95 per cent with mesothelioma and 40 per cent with breast cancer.
Current therapies include a painful procedure called ‘adhesion surgery’, in which the lung is stuck to the chest wall so that there is no space for the fluid to collect. This process is not always successful the first time and needs to be repeated in around 20 per cent of patients and if it fails completely, repeated drainage is needed, which is a very uncomfortable process.
Dr Davies and his team will study whether a different method to control pleural effusion is more successful in reducing breathlessness. This technique involves inserting a semi-permanent catheter into the chest wall. This would avoid the painful adhesion surgery and would enable the patient to drain their fluid whenever they feel they need to and would require far fewer visits to hospital.
During the study, some pleural effusion patients will be given standard treatment and some will be given the new catheter treatment. If the catheter treatment is more successful, this could lead to current standard treatments being changed, affecting the lives of more than 250,000 people.
Grant: Project Grant
Duration: 24 months
Amount awarded: £112,552
Relevant disease area(s): mesothelioma, lung Cancer
Relevant age group(s): adults
