The diagnosis of bronchopulmonary carcinoma was either corroborated or arrived at in 13 out of a total of 26 cases by pleural biopsy. Taken as a whole, pleural biopsy is inferior to repeated examination of the pleural exudate for neoplastic cells. In individual observations, however, the former can be found positive at a time when neither the pleural fluid nor any other material provide a diagn...

We agree that a key procedure in the management of malignant pleural effusions is complete evacuation of pleural fluid from the pleural space so that the visceral pleural surface can come into contact with the parietal pleural surface at the time of instillation of the sclerosing agent. We also recommend that chest tube drainage be employed for this purpose.’ Tube drainage should be continued u...

vs interferon (IFN)showed that IFNis superior to ADA, although the difference is small. Therefore, establishing a diagnosis of tuberculosis pleuritis based only on pleural fluid ADA without pleural biopsy findings is still controversial.6 We do not intend to deny the usefulness of pleural fluid ADA for diagnosing tuberculosis pleuritis. Furthermore, we do not insist that pleural fluid INFcan re...

The functional properties of lymphocytes in pleural fluid were studied in 23 patients admitted to the hospital for the diagnostic evaluation of a unilateral or bilateral pleural effusion. The in vitro reactivities of the patients' pleural fluid lymphocytes and peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and to purified protein derivative (PPD) were compared. In most patients with p...

PURPOSE To identify the drugs associated with pleural disease and to review the clinical, radiographic, and pleural fluid findings that occur, the natural history of the pleural reaction, and the response to therapy. DATA SOURCES English-language articles published from January 1966 through April 1998 were identified through searches of the MEDLINE database, selective bibliographies, and pers...

Tuberculous Pleural effusion is one of the most frequent causes of exudates in large series of pleural effusions in immunocompetent patients. The Aim of this study is to estimate enzyme Alkaline Phosphatase levels in serum and pleural fluids of HIV seronegative exudative Tuberculous Pleural fluids and their possible role in the diagnosis of tubercular pleural effusion. Serum and Pleural fluid s...

P leural disease in non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is well documented and commonly presents with pleural effusions in 20% of patients. However, solid pleural involvement is less common and is usually a secondary event. Primary pleural lymphomas are extremely rare and, in a series reported by Burgener and Hamlin, pleural plaques were seen in less then 4% of cases. Two types of primary pleural lymphomas ...

Although amyloidosis of the respiratory tract is well recognized, pleural involvement is very rare with only two cases being reported in the past. We report a case of primary amyloidosis with pleural effusion and suggest that pleural involvement and pleural effusion be added to the classification of pulmonary amyloidosis, and that amyloidosis be added to the list of causes of a pleural effusion.

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of postoperative continuous pleural lavage (PCPL) after thoracotomy for the treatment of stage 2 pleural empyema in relation to postoperative length of stay and morbidity. METHODS Stage 2 pleural empyema was diagnosed with computer tomography. Conservative treatment including antibiotics and pleural aspiration was introduced. 89 patients treated for stage 2 pleu...

AIM To examine the presence of radiologically visible lung and pleural changes in patients who were exposed to the asbestos dust, and to correlate the progression of these changes with the duration and intensity of exposure and smoking. We also evaluated possible correlation between non-malignant asbestos-related pleural abnormalities and the occurrence of malignant pleural mesothelioma. METH...