OBJECTIVES To assess the prevalence of inflammation in subjects with chronic painful knee osteoarthritis (OA), as determined by the presence of synovitis or joint effusion at ultrasonography (US); and to evaluate the correlation between synovitis, effusion, and clinical parameters. METHODS A cross sectional, multicentre, European study was conducted under the umbrella of EULAR-ESCISIT. SUBJ...

BACKGROUND Closed pleural biopsy (CPB) in patients with malignant pleural effusion is less sensitive than cytology. Ultrasound-assisted CPB allows biopsies to be performed in the lower thoracic parietal pleura, where secondary spread from pleural metastases is initially more likely to be found. We analyzed whether choosing the point of entry for CPB with thoracic ultrasound assistance influence...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of computed tomography (CT) attenuation values in the characterization of pericardial effusion. METHODS This study consisted of 96 patients with pericardial effusion who underwent pericardiocentesis. For further diagnostic evaluation of pericardial effusion, all the patients were assessed by thorax CT. CT attenuation values wer...

We aimed to determine the incidence, clinical consequences and microbiological findings related to the presence of pleural effusion in community-acquired pneumonia, and to identify predictive factors for empyema/complicated parapneumonic effusion. We analysed 4,715 consecutive patients with community-acquired pneumonia from two acute care hospitals. Patients were classified into three groups: n...

Primary malignant neoplasms of the pericardium are rare and are predominantly mesotheliomas, followed by benign localized fibrous mesothelioma, malignant fibrosarcoma, angiosarcoma and benign and malignant teratomas. 1 This article concerns an atypical presentation of this malignant tumor with symptoms and signs of pericardial effusion. This unusual feature was complete encasement of the h...

Ventriculopleural shunts are uncommonly used for the treatment of normal pressure hydrocephalus in adults. Pleural effusion has been reported to complicate the course of these ventriculopleural shunts in children. The pleural effusion should typically resemble the cerebrospinal fluid unless frankly infected. There are few good data on the nature of the pleural effusion. We, report a case of rec...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship among angiogenic cytokines, fibrinolytic activity and effusion size in parapneumonic effusion (PPE) and their clinical importance. METHODS From January 2008 through December 2010, 26 uncomplicated (UPPE) and 38 complicated (CPPE) PPE were studied. Based on chest ultrasonography, there were non-loculated in 30, uni-loculated in 12, and multi-loculated ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES The goals of this study were to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive accuracy of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET-FDG) imaging in detecting metastatic disease involvement of pleura and/or presence of malignant pleural effusion in patients with proven lung cancer. We wanted to compare efficacy of PET-FDG imaging to CT scanning in differ...

BACKGROUND Diagnosing pericardial effusion is critical for optimal patient care. Typically, clinicians use physical examination findings and historical features suggesting pericardial effusion to determine which patients require echocardiography. The diagnostic characteristics of these tools are not well described. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of historical feature...