BACKGROUND The diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis (TB) remains to be difficult. Interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) is a promising method for diagnosing TB in low TB burden countries. The release of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) by T lymphocytes increases at a localized site of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen. This study aimed to examine the clinical accuracy of T-SPOT.TB on pleur...

The aim of this article is to present an overview of our 10 years clinical research work and early clinical experience with small pleural effusions. Small amounts of pleural fluid are severely difficult to identify with imaging methods (chest x-rays and ultrasound). Nevertheless, it may be an important finding, sometimes leading to a definitive diagnosis of pleural carcinomatosis, infection or ...

Introduction We investigated whether tumour markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), cancer antigen 125 (CA-125), and cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1) in pleural effusions and serum can be used to distinguish pleural effusion aetiology. Materials and methods During the first thoracentesis, we measured pleural fluid and serum tumour marker concentrations and c...

We agree that a key procedure in the management of malignant pleural effusions is complete evacuation of pleural fluid from the pleural space so that the visceral pleural surface can come into contact with the parietal pleural surface at the time of instillation of the sclerosing agent. We also recommend that chest tube drainage be employed for this purpose.’ Tube drainage should be continued u...

The aim of this study was to investigate by computed tomography (CT) whether asbestosis, diffuse pleural thickening and/or pleural plaques are statistically associated. We also tried to find criteria to differentiate between diffuse and circumscribed pleural thickening. From 231 exposed workers, only those subjects whose radiograph showed neither bilateral calcified pleural plaques nor small pu...

conclusion lesion depth from the pleural surface and the presence of emphysema were strongly correlated with the increasing incidence of pneumothorax after ct-guided pcnb. our results may be applicable for the risk management of pcnbs to reduce pneumothorax as a complication. background previous studies identifying risk factors for pneumothorax in percutaneous core needle lung biopsies reported...

A Pleural fluid accumulates when pleural fluid formation exceeds pleural fluid absorption. Normally, fluid enters the pleural space from the capillaries in the parietal pleura and is removed via the lymphatics situated in the parietal pleura 1 . Fluid can also enter the pleural space from the interstitial spaces of the lung via the visceral pleura or from the peritoneal cavity via small holes i...

Pleural tuberculosis occurs in 30% of patients with tuberculosis, and the percentage of patients with tuberculosis pleural effusions is comparable to human immunodeficiency virus HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals, although pleural tuberculosis is rare in HIV-positive patients with CD4+ counts < 200 cells/mm(3). Pleural tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients is likely to happen in young p...

The diagnosis of bronchopulmonary carcinoma was either corroborated or arrived at in 13 out of a total of 26 cases by pleural biopsy. Taken as a whole, pleural biopsy is inferior to repeated examination of the pleural exudate for neoplastic cells. In individual observations, however, the former can be found positive at a time when neither the pleural fluid nor any other material provide a diagn...