This study investigated the serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in children with community-acquired pneumonia. Serum VEGF levels were measured in patients with pneumonia (n=29) and in control subjects (n=27) by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The pneumonia group was classified into bronchopneumonia with pleural effusion (n=1), bronchopneumonia without pleural ef...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Intrapleural fibrinolytic therapy is a technique used to treat empyemas and parapneumonic effusions. Cerebral air embolism is an unusual potentially severe complication of this technique. Summary of Case- A patient with parapneumonic pleural effusion underwent pleural lavage with streptokinase when he suddenly demonstrated focal neurological signs and seizures. The CT rev...

Reactive oxygen species modulator 1 (Romo1) is a novel protein that plays an important role in intracellular reactive oxygen species generation. Recently, Romo1 has been suggested to have diagnostic and prognostic potential in lung cancer. However, there is no data on the diagnostic value of Romo1 level in malignant pleural effusion. We evaluated the clinical usefulness of Romo1 in pleural flui...

BACKGROUND Pleural infection remains a significant cause of morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospital stay, and increased healthcare costs, despite advances in therapy. Twice daily intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)/deoxyribonuclease (DNase) initiated at the time of diagnosis has been shown to significantly improve radiological outcomes and decrease the need for surgery. OBJECTIVE...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To assess serum amyloid alpha (SAA) pleural fluid levels in parapneumonic effusion (PPE) and to investigate SAA diagnostic performance in PPE diagnosis and outcome. METHODS We studied prospectively 57 consecutive patients with PPE (empyema (EMP), complicated (CPE), and uncomplicated parapneumonic effusion (UPE)). SAA, CRP, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels were evaluated in serum...

INTRODUCTION Intrapleural fibrinolytic enzyme therapy is a potentially surgery-sparing treatment for poorly resolving parapneumonic effusion and empyema. It is safe in the majority of patients, however the most significant risk associated with this treatment is severe bleeding secondary to pleural hemorrhage. Contraindications for intrapleural enzyme therapy are not widely agreed upon and littl...

UNLABELLED The purpose of the study was to evaluate predictive value of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. MATERIAL AND METHODS By Light's criteria in 29 cases exudates and 10 transudates was recognized. We investigated 39 patients with pleural effusion (congestive heart failure--10, parapneumonic--11, tuberculous--6, malignant--12, tr...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To study the ability of positron emission tomography (PET) using 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to distinguish between benign and malignant disease in exudative pleural effusions and pleural thickening. DESIGN Prospective study of 98 consecutive patients presenting with either pleural thickening or an exudative pleural effusion. SETTING Department of pulmonary medicine of a un...

Background: Cancer Antigen-125 (CA-125) was first identified as an ovary-specific tumor indicator but subsequently shown that inflammation exists even in the absence of polymorphism leads to this marker rise. Multiple locations tuberculosis (TB) produce increase serum antigen levels. This research objects estimate diagnostic value CA-125 and establish cut-off value, distinguishing tuberculous f...