Homemade talc spray atomizer dedicated to flexible-rigid pleuroscope

Background: Thoracoscopic talc poudrage is the preferred technique for medical pleurodesis. However, commercial talc spray atomizers are not applicable with the flexible‐rigid pleuroscope. Therefore, we developed a simple and cheap homemade talc spray atomizer dedicated to flexible‐rigid pleuroscope. Objective: To describe the experience in performing talc poudrage using our homemade talc spray atomizer. Methods: A retrospective review was performed in 22 consecutive patients with symptomatic malignant pleural effusion undergoing thoracoscopic talc poudrage by our talc spray atomizer with the aim of performing a palliative pleurodesis. Results: Under direct flexible‐rigid pleuroscopic guidance, we could instill talc throughout the pleural cavity with our talc spray atomizer in all cases. The median procedure time to instill the whole talc was 4 min 15 s. The successful pleurodesis was achieved in 77.3%. Conclusions: We have introduced a homemade talc spray atomizer dedicated to the flexible‐rigid pleuroscope. Uniform distribution of talc could be achieved without additional port placement. Please cite this paper as: Boonsarngsuk V, Juthakarn S and Boonsarngsuk W. Homemade talc spray atomizer dedicated to flexible‐rigid pleuroscope. Clin Respir J 2012; 6: 40–45.