COMMUNICATIONS TO THE EDITOR 531 sions that had a high level of amylase. We disagree with this suggestion and offer the following comments. Although pancreaticopleural fistulae (internal pancreatic fistulae) resulting from disruption of the pancreatic duct or pseudocysts are known complications of pancreatitis, their incidence is unknown. The presence of such flstulae is suggested by amylase-ri...

background: early pleural tuberculosis (tb) diagnosis is particularly difficult. the aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the xpert mtb/rif (xpert) (cepheid, sunnyvale, ca) assay using pleural biopsy and pleural fluid specimens in patients with suspected pleural tb but who had a negative sputum acid-fast bacilli (afb) smear. materials and methods: in this study, 134 s...

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...

Chylothorax is characterized by fluid accumulation in the pleural cavity containing chylomicrons due to disruption of lymphatic drainage in the thoracic ductus and development of chylothorax. A 60-year-old male patient presented to our clinic with shortness of breath and displayed bilateral pleural effusion and diffuse mediastinal lymph nodes in his computed chest tomography images. There were ...

background: blind percutaneous pleural biopsy has traditionally been performed to investigate the etiology of exudative pleural effusion in which the initial thoracocentesis has been non- diagnostic. in view of the increasing use of image-guided and thoracoscopic pleural biopsies, this study examined the role of blind abrams pleural biopsy in the investigation of the exudative pleural effusion ...

conclusion ct scan is highly accurate in differentiating malignant pleural mesothelioma and metastatic pleural diseases. pleural thickening and thickening of interlobar fissure lead us to the diagnosis of mpm and massive free pleural effusion is more commonly seen in metastatic pleural malignancy. background malignant pleural mesothelioma (mpm) is a rare malignant neoplasm of the pleura that ty...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) can affect main pancreatic duct (MPD) as well as parenchyma. However, the incidence and outcomes of MPD disruption has not been well studied in the setting of ANP. METHODS This retrospective study investigated 84 of 465 patients with ANP who underwent magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography and/or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopanc...

objective(s) this study planned to assess the value of pcr is6110 assay in tissue specimens of needle pleural biopsy in patients suspicious to pleural tuberculosis. materials and methods sixty eight patients with lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion underwent pleural biopsy. tissue samples were sent for pathologic examination and pcr is6110 assay. the results of pcr reported as positive/ nega...

hylothorax refers to the presence of chyle in the pleural cavity as a result of thoracic duct disruption. It is either spontaneous or traumatic. Typically, it appears as a milky, opalescent odorless fluid, rich in triglycerides. Herein, 2 cases of spontaneous idiopathic chylothorax are reported, with a brief review of the literature. A 37-year-old Saudi man, who was admitted for investigation o...