INTRODUCTION Polycystic liver disease is asymptomatic in 95% of patients. In the remaining 5% it causes symptoms due to the local mass effect of the polycystic liver. We describe the case of a patient who presented with symptoms of a pleural effusion and was also found to have polycystic liver disease. The effusion recurred despite repeated efforts at drainage and only resolved following surgic...

BACKGROUND We performed this observational prospective study to evaluate the results of the application of a diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm for complicated parapneumonic pleural effusion (CPPE) and pleural parapneumonic empyema (PPE). MATERIAL/METHODS From 2001 to 2007, 210 patients with CPPE and PPE were confirmed through thoracocentesis and treated with pleural drainage tubes (PD), fi...

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...

OBJECTIVES Adenosine deaminase (ADA) can aid in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusions, but false-positive findings from lymphocytic effusions have been reported. We studied the ADA levels in a variety of nontuberculous lymphocytic effusions and analyzed the relationships between ADA and conventional hematologic and biochemical parameters. METHODS One hundred six lymphocytic pleural f...

BACKGROUND Differentiation between exudative and transudative pleural effusions is the initial step in assessment of pleural effusion. The aim of this study was to determine whether high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) are diagnostic utilities for exudative pleural effusion. METHODS This experimental study assessed 79 patients with pleural effusion wh...

background: patients with symptomatic malignant pleural effusion (mpe) may gain profit from pleurodesis for relief of dyspnea and in preventing the accumulation of fluid or air in the pleural space. pleurodesis methods are palliative and regard the patient's symptoms and underlying disease condition that are different. the purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of bleomycin in th...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis produces no specific symptoms or radiologic findings, allowing for the possibility of misdiagnosis. We evaluated the specific clinical and pleural fluid features of pleuropulmonary paragonimiasis masquerading as pleural tuberculosis. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and radiologic characteristics of 20 patients diagnosed with pleu...

Background: pleural effusion is the common fi ndings in patients presenting with cardiopulmonary symptoms but specifi c studies are lacking in Nepal. Objective: The main objective of this study is to fi nd out the various causes of pleural effusion, their mode of clinical presentation and laboratory analysis of blood and pleural fl uid to aid diagnosis of patients with pleural effusion. Materia...

INTRODUCTION Pleural effusions can complicate pneumonias in children and adolescents and are usually associated with a long hospital stay and increased morbidity. AIMS To characterise a population of patients with parapneumonic pleural effusion and to establish possible prognostic factors on admission based on clinical, imaging and analytical data. To correlate treatment options with the outc...

INTRODUCTION Diagnostic approaches to patients with a pleural effusion must be precise because many procedures depend on the nature of the fluid in the effusion. To date, no biochemical test is considered an appropriate alternative to Light's criteria. This study compared the absolute pleural cholesterol (PC) level and the pleural cholesterol/serum cholesterol (PC/SC) ratio with Light's criteri...