Reply: Optimal follow-up duration for nonspecific pleuritis: how long is long enough?

Our plain-English summary of Reply: Optimal follow-up duration for nonspecific pleuritis: how long is long enough?, by A. Sundaralingam, R. Bhatnagar (ERJ Open Research, 2026).

The study

• Authors: A. Sundaralingam, R. Bhatnagar
• Journal: ERJ Open Research
• Published: 2026;12(2)
• Type of article: Letter
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

∼8% of patients with nonspecific pleuritis histology at time of thoracoscopy develop a pleural malignancy. 12-month follow-up may not be adequate when there is a risk of pleural mesothelioma. In such cases, follow-up duration should be extended. https://bit.ly/47blcuA.

Copyright ©The authors 2026.

In plain English

This is a short reply letter, not a new study, and it presented no new data. The authors were answering a letter from S. Ozyavuz and colleagues. That letter described a patient case and responded to the authors' earlier article on patients with nonspecific pleuritis, a common tissue finding when the lining of the chest is examined by thoracoscopy. Describing their earlier study, which drew on the International Collaborative Effusion Database, the authors wrote that 6% of their cohort eventually developed malignancy. They compared this with a pooled figure of 8% reported in the literature. Most of these cancers were diagnosed within 12 months, but some were found as late as 32 months, and most of the later diagnoses were pleural mesothelioma. The authors concluded that this underscored the need for longer follow-up when pleural mesothelioma is suspected or considered particularly high risk, in line with a European Respiratory Society taskforce. They called for more research into why some patients develop cancer and others do not. The letter did not discuss asbestos or any fiber exposure.

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: Correspondence: the authors' reply to a letter about their earlier published study. It contains no new data or analysis.
• Who was studied: No new population was studied. The letter refers to the authors' earlier cohort of patients with nonspecific pleuritis from the International Collaborative Effusion Database. The size of that cohort is not given in this letter.
• Exposure: Not discussed. The letter does not mention asbestos or any fiber exposure.
• Main results:
  • In the authors' earlier cohort of patients with nonspecific pleuritis, 6% eventually developed malignancy. The 8% figure is a pooled prevalence from the literature, not from the authors' cohort.
  • In the earlier study, most malignancies were diagnosed within 12 months, but some cases were diagnosed as late as 32 months.
  • Most of the delayed diagnoses were pleural mesothelioma.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the late diagnoses underscored the need for prolonged follow-up when pleural mesothelioma is suspected or considered particularly high risk.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Histology, Thoracoscopy, Pleural Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Optimal follow-up duration for nonspecific pleuritis: how long is long enough? — S. Ozyavuz, G. Ak, et al. (2026)
• Nonspecific pleuritis: optimal duration of follow-up — Z.S. DePew, A. Verma, et al. (2014)
• Long-term follow-up results of patients diagnosed with nonspecific pleuritis by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery biopsy — M. Agca, R. Yildiz, et al. (2026)
• Investigation and outcomes in patients with nonspecific pleuritis: results from the International Collaborative Effusion database — A. Sundaralingam, A. Aujayeb, et al. (2023)
• Outcome of patients with nonspecific pleuritis/fibrosis on thoracoscopic pleural biopsies — H.E. Davies, J.E. Nicholson, et al. (2010)
• Outcome of patients with nonspecific pleuritis at thoracoscopy — J.M. Wrightson, H.E. Davies (2011)

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