Abstract: Objective　To evaluate the indications, surgical techniques and economic effects of windowed pleural biopsy. Methods　The clinical data of 74 patients with pleural biopsy in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Gansu Provincial Cancer Hospital from June 2016 to June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. There were two groups according to different surgical methods. In windowed biopsy group, there were 29 patients (18 males and 11 females). In thoracoscopic biopsy group, there were 45 patients (27 males and 18 females). The intra-operative blood loss, operation time, postoperative pain score, postoperative complications and surgical costs were compared between the two groups. Results　No perioperative patients died. Intra-operative blood loss, operation time and operation cost were significantly lower in windowed biopsy group than those of the thoracoscopy biopsy group (P＜0.01). The postoperative pain scores were lower in the windowed biopsy group than those in the thoracoscopic biopsy group (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in postoperative complication between the two groups (P＞0.05). Conclusion　The windowed pleural biopsy can reduce surgical trauma, shorten the operation time, lower the postoperative pain score and significantly reduce the cost of surgery.

Key words: pleural diseases, thoracoscopy, windowed biopsy, thoracoscopic biopsy, therapeutic effect