Pericardial effusion is a recognized consequences of myxedema. Its incidence is unknown, primarily because of past difficulties in establishing the diagnosis. We studied 33 hypothyroid patients by echocardiography. Ten of the 33 patients (30%) had positive echoes for pericardial effusion. Seven of these ten patients had enlarged hearts on chest X-ray. Five patients had cardiac enlargement but n...

Chylous pleural effusion is characterized by milky-appearing fluid with elevated triglyceride content and presence of chylomicrons in the pleural space. Even though patients with lymphoma sometimes present with malignant pleural effusion, chylous effusion is rarely encountered as a presenting feature in such patients. We present a 47-year-old woman diagnosed as follicular lymphoma who presented...

BACKGROUND Cats with pleural effusion represent common emergencies in small animal practice. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the diagnostic ability of a point-of-care ELISA (POC-ELISA) for the measurement of N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) to differentiate cardiac from non-cardiac disease in cats with pleural effusion. The sample material for use of th...

This study was performed to determine whether pleural effusion in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a negative impact on survival. We evaluated 12 prognostic factors in 197 patients with stage IIIB or IV NSCLC. Each factor was dichotomized, and survival curves calculated by the Kaplan-Meier technique were compared using the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazards...

OBJECTIVE the study aimed to evaluate the prognostic importance of an incidental small pericardial effusion found on echocardiography. METHODS we identified 10,067 consecutive patients undergoing echocardiography at 1 of 3 laboratories. Patients were excluded if they were referred for evaluation of the pericardium (n = 133), had cardiac surgery within the previous 60 days (n = 393), had a mod...

Isolated pleural effusion, so called primary pleural effusion denotes a pleural effusion without documented etiology such as a cardiac, inflammatory, iatrogenic problem or fetal hydrops. Chromosomal anomaly such as Down syndrome may be associated with isolated pleural effusion. The content of the isolated pleural effusion is mostly chylous, and isolated non-chylous pleural effusion in neonate i...

There has been considerable recent interest in the potential use of serum cystatin C as a diagnostic tool. Here we examined the hypothesis that the cystatin C level in the pleural effusion can differ from the corresponding serum level. We evacuated pleural effusion fluids from 47 patients by thoracentesis. Cystatin C, beta(2)-microglobulin, inorganic phosphate, creatinine and total protein were...

The conditions of labour appear to favour the development of pleural effusion. The frequency of postpartum pleural effusion was investigated in this study using thoracic ultrasonography. Thirty one postpartum and 22 healthy nonpregnant women of the same age-group were examined, both supine and seated, via an intercostal approach. Seven of the 31 (23%) postpartum women had pleural effusion withi...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the clinical course and mid-term prognosis of neonates admitted with pleural effusion. METHODS Case records of 38 neonates admitted with pleural effusion were retrieved and analyzed. RESULTS 16 (42%) patients had congenital and 22 (58%) patients had acquired causes of pleural effusion. The most common causes of congenital pleural effusion and acquired pleural effus...