Participants will be randomly assigned (1:1) to one of two arms:
Arm 1: Indwelling pleural catheter (with talc pleurodesis if suitable) Arm 2: Pleurodesis via Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery
Arm 1: Indwelling pleural catheter is a long-term catheter that is tunnelled under the skin and allows ongoing drainage of pleural fluid by the patient or carer at home. It is inserted using local anaesthetic with or without sedation depending on local practice. An experienced respiratory physician inserts the catheter. Once the catheter is inserted, the pleural fluid will be evacuated as completely as possible. If the lung fully re-expands and there is no contraindication to talc pleurodesis, 4-5g of sterile graded talc will be instilled via the IPC. The participant will then be discharged on a daily drainage regimen for 14 days. The drainage will either be performed by the participant's carer or nurses in the community. A bottle or bag will be attached to the drain to allow for removal of accumulated pleural fluid. Once completed the drain will be reattached to the pleural catheter. At review in clinic on day 14 (+/- 2 days), the participant will be assessed for spontaneous pleurodesis (\<50ml drainage on 3 consecutive drainage attempts). If pleurodesis has occurred and there is no residual symptomatic effusion, arrangements will be made for IPC removal. Otherwise the participant will switch to a symptom-guided drainage regimen. If the lung does not fully re-expand following complete fluid evacuation, they will be discharged on a symptom-guided regimen without instillation of talc. The drainage regimen will continue for the duration of the study and beyond if pleurodesis has not occurred and pleural fluid continues to accumulate. All participants will remain under the care of their study doctors who are also their usual physicians, after the end of the study.
Arm 2: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is a type of key-hole surgery performed under general anaesthetic and usually single lung ventilation by a cardio-thoracic surgeon. This is expected to take about 1 hour. Between one and three ports are used to insert a camera and instruments into the chest cavity. Adhesions can be broken down if present and the lining of the lung (visceral pleura) can sometimes be removed (decortication) to facilitate lung re-expansion. The surgeon can then perform either mechanical abrasion or talc poudrage to induce inflammation and subsequent pleurodesis. A chest drain is left in situ post-operatively and is removed when the fluid draining is below a certain volume depending on local practice.
Participants in both arms will be reviewed at the same time points - at discharge, 14 days post-procedure, monthly to 6 months, then 3-monthly to 1 year. The reviews will include quality of life and breathlessness questionnaires.
All data will be obtained by the designated study research team who will carry out the IPC insertions and where VATs pleurodesis is undertaken, the research team will liaise directly with the study surgeon.
