Study objectives: To review the pleural fluid characteristics, pleural manometry, and radiographic data of patients who received a diagnosis of trapped lung in our pleural diseases service. Design: Retrospective case series. Methods: The procedure records of 247 consecutive patients who underwent pleural manometry at the Medical University of South Carolina between October 2002 and November 200...

Pleural pathologies in the Middle East are diverse and evolving partly due to steady immigration and increasing industrialization. Data about pleural diseases in the Middle East is relatively scarce. We are not aware of any review on this topic in current medical literature. This article aims at fulfilling this specific task. In this paper, we are reviewing selected English-written articles and...

Pleural effusion is a common complication of various diseases. Conventional methods are not always capable of establishing the cause of pleural effusion, so alternative tests are needed. The aim of this study was to explore means of discriminating between different pleural effusion groups, malignant, parapneumonic and tuberculous, based on the combined function of seven biological markers. Aden...

In differential diagnosis of pleural effusions, cytology is the most sensitive method. Since cytology findings are positive in half of such fluids, combined use of reliable tumor marker and cytology is a logical approach. Sialic acid and other tumor markers can be reliable substances associated with neoplasia. The present study measured sialic acid levels in pleural effusion and serum samples o...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To test a novel semirigid pleuroscope to be used by pulmonologists for the diagnosis and treatment of pleural diseases. DESIGN Prospective study. SETTING Three tertiary referral centers for pulmonary diseases. PATIENTS Thirty-four patients who were referred for medical thoracoscopy between September 2000 and April 2001. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Thirty-six procedures wer...

INTRODUCTION Diseases of the pleural space, including pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and space occupying mass lesions (tumor, diaphragmatic hernia) are relatively common disorders in small animal clinical practice. The abnormal presence of air, fluid and/or tissue within the pleural cavity does not generally reflect disease of the pleura per se; but instead represents a disorder of the airways...

Anti-tumor properties assigned to PEDF, beside its role as an inhibitor of angiogenesis, make it a promising candidate in the search of new biomarkers for malignancy. In this study levels of PEDF were investigated in pleural effusions from lung adenocarcinoma and benign inflammatory disease patients. The mean PEDF concentration in the malignant group was slightly superior to that in patients su...

Background Empyema is a complication of bacterial pneumonia which has a particular importance due to its significant morbidity and mortality in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors of empyema in children with parapneumonic pleural effusion. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross-section...

OBJECTIVE Soluble CD40 (sCD40) is a potential modulator for both antitumor responses and CD40-based immunotherapy; however the levels and significance of sCD40 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with malignant pleural effusion are unknown. METHODS Forty-eight patients with lung cancer were treated in our institutions from January 2008 to January 2010. Peripheral blood and pleural ...

Fibronectin is a glycoprotein found in body fluids, loose connective tissue matrix and in basement membranes. Fibronectin in pleural effusion was found to be immunologically indistinguishable from the plasma form, as shown by double-diffusion analysis. Fibronectin isolated from pleural fluid by affinity chromatography on gelatin-Sepharose had a polypeptide pattern similar to that of plasma fibr...