Holling N, Patole S, Medford ARL, et al. - Whether systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT) is related to higher rates of malignant pleural effusions (MPE) resolution in people with pharmacologically-sensitive tumours, was investigated in this retrospective study of prospectively-obtained data from an observational cohort study of individuals diagnosed with MPE from lung, breast, ovarian and haematological cancer. There were 280 patients, of those, 127 had sensitive and 153 non-sensitive tumours. SACT was received by 171. Administration of chemical pleurodesis was revealed as the most strong predictor of MPE resolution. In sensitive tumours, occurrence of MPE resolution without chemical pleurodesis was seen in 14/52 following SACT and 5/22 without SACT. According to findings of this observational analysis, there was no independent link of SACT with MPE resolution in pharmacologically-sensitive tumours. There is need for randomised trials, but on current observations, early definitive pleural intervention is recommended for symptomatic MPE cases, irrespective of underlying tumour or intended treatment.