A careful physical examination is a valuable and noninvasive means of assessing pleural effusion and should be routinely performed in every patient in whom this condition is suspected. Although physical examination is less accurate than ultrasonography or computed tomography in detecting a pleural effusion, the sensitivity and specificity of the different physical signs of pleural effusion may ...

RATIONALE The diagnosis of pleural malignant mesothelioma (MM) by effusion cytology may be difficult and is currently controversial. Effusion mesothelin levels are increased in patients with MM but the clinical role of this test is uncertain. OBJECTIVES To determine the clinical value of measuring mesothelin levels in pleural effusion supernatant to aid diagnosis of MM. METHODS AND MEASUREM...

BACKGROUND Some trials recently demonstrated the benefit of targeted treatment for malignant disease; therefore, adequate tissues are needed to detect the targeted gene. Pleural biopsy using flex-rigid pleuroscopy and pleural effusion cell block analysis are both useful for diagnosis of malignancy and obtaining adequate samples. The purpose of our study was to compare the diagnostic utility bet...

Distinguishing malignant from benign pleural effusions using routine cytology is a common diagnostic problem. Recently, genetic alterations, including microsatellite instability (MSI) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH), have been described in malignant pleural effusions and proposed as methods improving diagnostics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a panel of molecular markers for the de...

Two patients with end-stage-renal-disease on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) presented with pleural effusions. The aspirated fluid was categorised as transudate, based on alkaline pH, low protein and lactic dehydrogenase level. A striking feature of the pleural fluid was, its very high glucose content that resulted from translocation of dextrose containing peritoneal dialysate ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the diagnostic utility of adenosine deaminase (ADA) in exudative pleural effusions of different etiologies. SETTING AND DESIGN It was an observational study conducted at a tertiary care teaching institute. MATERIALS AND METHODS Of a total of 171 pleural fluid samples, 122 were found to be exudates and were included in the study. Pleural fluid ADA was done for all incl...

Although it is generally accepted that a malignant transient pleural transudate may appear during the early stages of lymphatic obstruction, cases demonstrating such probability are rare in literature. A 67-year-old woman was admitted to hospital because a lymphangitic carcinomatosis and a transudative infrapulmonary pleural effusion with a cytology positive for adenocarcinoma. One month later ...

BACKGROUND Multiloculated pleural effusion is a life-threatening condition that needs early recognition. Drainage by chest tube might be difficult which necessitates a surgical intervention. While x-ray typically does not show loculations, CT scan might not also identify the loculations. Ultrasound has a high sensitivity in detecting pleural diseases including multiloculated pleural effusion. ...

The response of the fibrinolytic system to inflammatory mediators in empyema and complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions is still uncertain. We prospectively analysed 100 patients with pleural effusion: 25 with empyema or complicated parapneumonic effusion, 22 with tuberculous effusion, 28 with malignant effusion and 25 with transudate effusion. Inflammatory mediators, tumour necrosis facto...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE It has been proven that telomerase activation correlates with the carcinogenesis, aggressiveness and turnover of lung cancer. Telomerase is one of the improtant molecular biomarkers for diagnosis and targeting therapy in lung cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate the diagnostic value of the combined determination of telomerase activity in induced sputum, pleur...