Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) is known to be secreted by malignant cells during proliferation and migration, and is associated with tumour cell invasion and metastasis. This study was undertaken to evaluate whether u-PA is significantly increased in carcinomatous pleural fluids compared to those due to other aetiologies, and to identify the cells in the pleural space that are invo...

Newly discovered IL-9-producing CD4(+) helper T cells (Th9 cells) have been reported to contribute to tissue inflammation and immune responses, however, differentiation and immune regulation of Th9 cells in tuberculosis remain unknown. In the present study, our data showed that increased Th9 cells with the phenotype of effector memory cells were found to be in tuberculous pleural effusion as co...

To know the diagnostic role of pleural biopsy in determining underlying etiological causes of exudative pleural effusion. A total of 47 patients, aged 16-104 years with mean age of 47.36 years, of either sex, with exudative pleural effusion underwent closed pleural biopsy with Abram's needle in standard way. Average 4-6 biopsy specimens were obtained from each patient, which were sent for histo...

BACKGROUND With the exception of areas with high prevalence of tuberculosis, medical thoracoscopy is becoming the diagnostic modality of choice for exudative pleural effusions. The aims of this study were to determine the diagnostic yield and safety of medical thoracoscopy for exudative pleural effusions and ascertain the etiology of such effusions in Qatar. METHODS This is a retrospective-de...

introduction: medical thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure for diagnosing and treating pleural diseases. despite its proven role in diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, it is infrequently used, which could be because of cost of equipment and lack of training. we analyzed our initial 3 years record of thoracoscopy at himalayan institute of medical sciences, a tertiary care center in hi...

background: pleurisy is a common extra pulmonary complication of tuberculosis, but current methods for diagnosing it are fairly crude. here we product a meta-analysis for the available evidence on the ability of tumor necrosis factor-? (tnf-?) in pleural fluid to serve as a diagnostic marker of tuberculous pleurisy (tp). materials and methods: we searched the pubmed, embase, and google scholar ...

The Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Xpert; Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) is a rapid, World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed, automated PCR test optimised for respiratory specimens that can detect both Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and rifampicin resistance [3, 4]. Given the limitations of available tests for the diagnosis of pleural TB, several studies have evaluated the performance of Xpert using ple...

IN anaesthesia for the surgery of pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial blocking appears to be the exceptional rather than the usual procedure. This is, no doubt, largely due to the much improved preoperative treatment nowadays of patients with sputum. Moreover, there has not yet been published by those who practise bronchial blocking a convincing series to show that their cases have a lower collap...

BACKGROUND Isolation of M. tuberculosis (MTB) is required in cases of Tuberculous pleural effusion (TBPE) for confirming diagnosis and successful therapy based on drug sensitivity test. Several studies have focused on predictors of MTB culture positivity in TBPE. However, the clinical role of loculated TBPE as a predictor of MTB cultivation from TBPE remains unclear. The aim of this study was t...

One hundred eighty-three patients had simultaneous blood and pleural fluid pH determinations. Thirty-six effusions were transudates, and 147 were exudates. In 46 effusions, the pleural fluid pH was less than 7.30; all 46 were exudates. A pleural fluid pH less than 7.30 was associated with the following six diagnoses: (1) empyema; (2) malignancy; (3) collagen vascular disease; (4) tuberculosis; ...