Two patients with pleural plaques developed pleural effusion and subsequent diffuse pleural fibrosis 50 and 39 yrs after their first exposure to asbestos. The diagnosis of benign asbestos pleural effusion was suggested, but the work-up finally suggested bromocriptine-induced pleural disease in both patients. These two cases illustrate that drug-induced pleural effusion is an important different...

We examined the phenotypes of lymphocytes in the pleural cavity of 23 lung cancer patients without malignant effusion. The ability of those lymphocytes to develop lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity and the regulation of LAK by pleural cavity macrophages were also compared with their counterparts in the peripheral blood. Mononuclear cells (MNC) were obtained simultaneously from the blood...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the usefulness of two new parameters for separating pleural transudates and exudates: pleural fluid cholinesterase level and pleural fluid to serum cholinesterase ratio, and to compare the results with the other well-established criteria. DESIGN Prospective evaluation of the patients referred for diagnostic thoracentesis. SETTING Pulmonary sections of a community...

OBJECTIVES Chest ultrasonography is a useful diagnostic tool for the detection of pleural effusions of different etiologies. Our purpose was to determine whether the echogenic swirling pattern identifiable on real-time chest ultrasonographic images is a predictor of malignant pleural effusions in patients with malignancies. DESIGN Medical records of patients undergoing chest ultrasonography i...

Pleural effusion is a common diagnostic problem. The analysis of serum and pleural fluid for tumour markers is widely used as a diagnostic aid in clinical practice. The aim of the present study was to determine the usefulness of simultaneous quantification of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen (CA-125) in distinction of malignant from benign effusion. Data from a total of 7...

Primary pleural squamous cell carcinoma is very rare, and there is a lack of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition. An asymptomatic 75-year-old man was referred to us after a right pleural nodule was found on computed tomography during a routine health examination. He underwent surgery for his pleural tumor twice over the following 2 years. Histopathological examination ev...

The syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone has been described in association with a variety of diseases of the thorax, especially with intrathoracic neoplasms.' 3To our knowledge there is only one case report of mesothelioma associated with the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone.4 We describe another histologically proved case of the biphasic type o...

lipoma is the most common soft tissue tumor but the presence of osseous component within the tumor is quite rare. some studies show that less than 1% of lipomas were ossified. we describe the histological, radiological and diagnostic features of an ossified intramuscular lipoma. to the best of the authors' knowledge, a symptomatic ossified intramuscular lipoma without any cortical erosion and h...