Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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The past decade has seen a dramatic rise in clinical and research interests in pleural disease in parallel with rising incidences of pleural cancers and infection worldwide. Development of specialist pleural services can streamline patient diagnosis and therapy, reduce health-care resource consumption, improve procedural training and safety and facilitate clinical research. ⋯ Establishing funding support and referral sources are the common initial hurdles. This article provides an overview of the need for specialist pleural disease units, the essential elements required and the likely challenges encountered in setting a service up.