INTRODUCTION Forward deployed military medical units can provide sophisticated medical care with limited resources. Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) may facilitate care and expedite diagnosis. This study assessed the accuracy of results for POCT for non-serum samples (pleural, peritoneal, and cerebrospinal fluid) using iSTAT and Piccolo hand-held devices compared with results obtained using a hospi...

Tuberculous (TB) pleural effusion occurs in approximately 5% of patients with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. The HIV pandemic has been associated with a doubling of the incidence of extrapulmonary TB, which has resulted in increased recognition of TB pleural effusions even in developed nations. Recent studies have provided insights into the immunopathogenesis of pleural TB, including mem...

We describe the clinical course and pleural fluid findings in patients with AIDS-associated pleural KS and survival analysis of cases from the Colorado registry with and without pleuropulmonary KS. Twenty-one of 105 (20 percent) of AIDS cases with KS had pleuropulmonary involvement with KS and 13 (62 percent) had pleural effusions. All cases were homosexual males with cutaneous lesions of KS th...

A young male patient complaining of vague abdominal pain, dyspnea, generalized weakness and abdominal distension for 6 months was referred for abdominal ultrasound. Ultrasound showed enlarged echogenic kidneys, perinephric and renal sinus cystic fluid collections bilaterally with ascites and right pleural effusion. The ultrasound findings were confirmed by abdomen CT scan. Renal function test w...

In evaluating pleural effusions, clinicians perform thoraceninstance, recommend measuring pleural fluid-to-serum albumin gradients when patients with congestive heart failure have tesis and pleural fluid analysis most often by Light’s criteria to establish the exudative or transudative nature of the effuan exudative effusion by Light’s criteria (7). A Bayesian approach addresses these limitatio...

In most diseases related to pleural effusion, the fluid analysis yields important diagnostic information, and in certain cases, fluid analysis alone is enough for diagnosis. The many important characteristics of pleural fluid are described, as are other complementary investigations that can assist with the diagnosis of common and rare pleural effusions. For a systematic review of pleural effusi...

BACKGROUND Previous reports have suggested that the appearance of pleural effusions (i.e., the presence or absence of blood) might help to establish the etiology of the effusions. This study explores the relationship between pleural fluid appearance and the results of chemical and cytological analyses in a group of patients with recurrent symptomatic pleural effusions and a diagnosis of cancer....

 Abstract  Background: At present, differentiation between exudative and transudative pleural  effusion is based solely on laboratory measures and is time-consuming. Asimple  bedside method would be of great help to differentiate between these two types of effusions.  We present a new method for this purpose assessed in 46 patients.  Methods: Standard laboratory tests and our method were tested...

Abstract Background: Pleural effusion is the accumulation of excess fluid in the pleural cavity. Most information available about pleural effusion is obtained from studies on adults and little evidence is available in children. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the existing status and explain the disease process, signs, treatment, and prognosis. Children with pleural effusion who were admi...