Pleural effusion volume as a novel biomarker for prognostic and therapeutic stratification in small cell lung cancer: a translationally-focused cohort study
Wanjun Lu, Qiuxia Wu, Xin Liu, Yuxin Jiang, Yong Song, Ping Zhan, Tangfeng Lv · 2026
Read Pleural effusion volume as a novel biomarker for prognostic and therapeutic stratification in small cell lung cancer: a translationally-focused cohort study by Wanjun Lu, Qiuxia Wu, Xin Liu, Yuxin Jiang, Yong Song, Ping Zhan, Tangfeng Lv (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13263838.txt.
Description
Wanjun Lu and colleagues argued in 2026 that the amount of fluid around the lung, not just its presence, should guide thinking in small cell lung cancer. Guidelines lump every malignant effusion into the extensive stage, yet patients clearly fare unequally. Their cohort covered 1,026 patients treated in Nanjing between 2008 and 2024.
Fluid appeared in just over a third of patients. Those with small effusions survived a median near fourteen months, statistically the same as patients with no fluid at all. Moderate or larger effusions cut median survival to about five months. Among 75 patients with proven malignant fluid, poor performance status and a high neuron-specific enolase level predicted early death. Immune therapy stood out in the opposite direction, tied to a large survival advantage. The authors propose effusion volume as a simple bedside stratifier.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Wanjun Lu, Qiuxia Wu, Xin Liu, Yuxin Jiang, Yong Song, Ping Zhan, Tangfeng Lv |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 23 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |