We read with interest the article by MOFFETT et al. [1] that was recently published in the European Respiratory Journal. In this retrospective analysis, conducted using two databases of 1,460 pneumonia patients enrolled from one single centre, the investigators studied the parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPE) linear cut-off by chest computed tomography (CCT) that indicates the need for thoracen...

Several biological markers have been proposed to improve the efficacy of diagnosing tuberculous pleurisy. The study was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) concentration in differentiating tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) and nontuberculous pleural effusion (non-TPE). Ninety four patients (50 M and 44 F, mean...

BACKGROUND Defensins, also known as human neutrophil peptides, are antimicrobial peptides present in the azurophil granules of neutrophils. We measured their level in pleural effusion in various pulmonary diseases to investigate whether they could be used as a diagnostic marker in the differential diagnosis of specific pleural diseases. PATIENTS AND PARTICIPANTS We analyzed pleural effusion s...

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Nairobi, among consecutively admitted adult patients with exudative pleural effusions over a one year period. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in these patients and to compare the diagnostic yields from the pleural fluid and pleural bi...

OBJECTIVE Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent inducer of capillary permeability and its role as a crucial mediator in pleural fluid formation has been established. This study was conducted to assess the usefulness of VEGF for diagnosing malignant and non-malignant pleural effusions of various causes. PATIENTS AND METHODS VEGF levels in pleural effusions collected from 52 pat...

Introduction The present study aimed to investigate the differences in proteomic expression between uncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusion (UPPE) and complicated (CPPE). Material methods There were 10 patients with UPPE CPPE. These combined due complication of further divided into group A B. An LC-MS analysis was conducted extraction high-abundance proteins, proteins 1.5-fold or higher di...