There are multiple causes of persistent pleural effusion. Pancreaticopleural fistula (PFF) is one of them. This is a rare entity that only occurs occasionally in differential diagnoses due to the fact that it is an extremely rare consequence of chronic pancreatitis in adults. We report the case of persistent pleural effusion resulting from a pancreaticopleural fistula in a patient with chronic ...

Intrapleural tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and deoxyribonuclease (DNase) therapy has recently been shown to improve outcomes in pleural infection in a randomized trial. Published literature, to date, consists of only ∼50 patients who had received tPA/DNase. Safety data of this regimen remain limited. Pleural contents often track along chest drains, but the effect of tPA/DNase on subcutaneo...

The most common cause of empyema is a complicated parapneumonic effusion, but other foci infection may also spread to the pleural space. A man in his early 30s with history testicular mixed germ cell tumor presented week pleuritic chest pain. On admission, he was tachypneic, tachycardic, and had tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Imaging rev...

Background: Cancer Antigen-125 (CA-125) was first identified as an ovary-specific tumor indicator but subsequently shown that inflammation exists even in the absence of polymorphism leads to this marker rise. Multiple locations tuberculosis (TB) produce increase serum antigen levels. This research objects estimate diagnostic value CA-125 and establish cut-off value, distinguishing tuberculous f...

Patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) do not frequently have pleural complications. However, pneumothorax is a troublesome complication of patients with AIDS. At some medical centres, more than 50% of patients with spontaneous pneumothorax have AIDS. Most patients with spontaneous pneumothorax and AIDS have Pneumocystis carinii infection and necrotic subpleural blebs. The pne...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To assess the impact of routine thoracentesis on diagnostic assessment and therapeutic measures in patients with clinically documented pleural effusions. DESIGN AND SETTING Prospective, 1-year, three-center study in medical ICU (MICU) patients with physical and radiographic evidence of pleural effusion. PATIENTS Of 1,351 patients admitted to three MICUs during the study per...

BACKGROUND Parapneumonic effusions complicating pneumonia are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. AIM To determine the role of the clinical, laboratory and radiographic features to the differential diagnosis of patients with community- acquired pneumonia (CAP) without effusion, uncomplicated parapneumonic effusion (UCPPE) and complicated parapneumonic effusion (CPPE). MATERIA...

BACKGROUND Bacterial parapneumonic pleural effusions (PPEs) have high morbidity. The accurate identification of pathogens is vital for initiating the appropriate treatment. A previous study suggested that the use of blood culture bottles might improve the bacterial yield in PPEs. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to compare the culture positivity rate by the blood culture bottles and the s...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is preferred over conventional methods, such as pleural biopsy, in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pleural effusion. Considering that Imam Khomeini Hospital is facing a large volume of patients with pleural effusion of unknown origin referred from other centers, the present study was conducted to investigate the role of...