Bedside to bench and back again-translational research in interventional pulmonology

Our plain-English summary of Bedside to bench and back again-translational research in interventional pulmonology, by B. Iqbal, H.J. Choi, N.I. Kanellakis, et al (Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, 2025).

The study

• Authors: B. Iqbal, H.J. Choi, N.I. Kanellakis, J. Akulian, N.M. Rahman
• Journal: Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine
• Published: 2025;31(1):59-64
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Purpose Of Review: Translational research in Interventional Pulmonology has made significant advances in recent years, ranging from novel biomarkers and imaging to practice-changing clinical trials in lung cancer and pleural disease. This review article aims to summarize key research studies in the field to understand the latest published evidence and to highlight areas of growing academic interest.

Recent Findings: In lung cancer, the role of novel imaging and biomarkers and their potential utility in early lung cancer diagnosis will be highlighted. In pleural disease, less invasive/conservative treatment in pneumothorax, early aggressive treatment in pleural infection along with novel biomarkers, and the shift beyond drainage strategies in malignant pleural effusion and mesothelioma will be discussed.

Summary: This overview of translational research in the field of interventional pulmonology will ultimately help to highlight the gaps in current evidence to promote research in areas of clinical significance.

Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

In plain English

This article was a narrative review, not a new study. The authors summarized recent and ongoing research in interventional pulmonology, the branch of lung medicine that uses procedures such as bronchoscopy and chest drains. It covered lung cancer diagnosis and diseases of the pleura, the lining around the lungs. The article did not discuss asbestos or asbestos exposure. For lung cancer, it described newer biopsy techniques and blood, airway, nasal and breath tests for judging whether lung nodules are cancerous. For pleural disease, it described trials on pneumothorax (collapsed lung), pleural infection and malignant pleural effusion. On mesothelioma, the review reported on the MARS-2 trial in pleural mesothelioma, which compared extended pleurectomy decortication plus chemotherapy with chemotherapy alone. The authors wrote that this trial had conclusively shown surgery to be harmful, with worse prognosis and more serious adverse events. They also described PREDICT-Meso, a programme seeking premalignant drivers of pleural mesothelioma, and the recruiting MITOPE trial of a drug, RSO-021, given into the pleural space. The authors concluded that new lung cancer diagnostic tools need validation in prospective randomized trials.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: narrative review of recent and ongoing research in interventional pulmonology
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the review covered published and ongoing research on lung cancer diagnostics and pleural disease, including pleural mesothelioma
• Main results:
  • The review reported that the MARS-2 trial (extended pleurectomy decortication plus chemotherapy versus chemotherapy alone for pleural mesothelioma) had, in the authors' words, conclusively shown that surgery is harmful in mesothelioma, with worse prognosis and more serious adverse events than medical management
  • The review described PREDICT-Meso, an international programme aiming to identify premalignant drivers and develop pleural mesothelioma models
  • The review described the currently recruiting MITOPE study, a first-in-human trial of a drug called RSO-021 given into the pleural space in patients with progressive malignant pleural effusion and mesothelioma
  • For malignant pleural effusion, the review stated that multiple randomized trials found talc pleurodesis and indwelling pleural catheters gave similar symptom benefit, with neither superior
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that novel lung cancer diagnostic tools require validation in prospective randomized trials. They also concluded that pleural disease research is shifting toward newer diagnostic and treatment approaches driven by better understanding of how the disease develops.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that robust clinical data on the newer bronchoscopy imaging technologies are lacking and that prospective multicentre comparative trials are needed
  • The authors stated that the pleural infection biomarkers and assays they described need robust prospective investigation before use in clinical practice

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Pulmonology, Biomarker, Clinical Trial, Lung Cancer, Pneumothorax, Pleural Effusion, Mesothelioma.

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