Background: Patient immune status might be indicative of the variance in bacterial genetics in drug-resistant tuberculous pleuritis and could be used for predicting the risk of multi-drug resistant tuberculous pleuritis (MDR-TB). Objective: To determine the significance of Th2/Th1 ratio and concentration of PD-L1 in the pleural effusions for prediction of MDR-T...

Metastatic malignancy represents a common cause of effusions. Immunocytochemistry (ICC) is useful in confirming malignancy and gaining insight into the site of origin. Cell blocks are commonly utilized for this purpose; nonetheless, when the malignant cells are sparse, they may not be represented in cell blocks thereby precluding immunophenotypic characterization. Thus, we sought to investigate...

We read with great interest the article by Alatas and coworkers (June 2004),1 who showed that serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels were increased in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, compared to patients with inactive pulmonary tuberculosis and control subjects. They also showed that serum VEGF levels were statistically different before and after treatment in 10 pat...

Choroidal effusions may appear as subtle abnormalities on CT scans. Recognition of choroidal effusions, however, is critical because they may be an early sign of ocular pathologic abnormality. After detection, the various causes of choroidal effusions, such as carotid cavernous fistulas, ocular hypotony, tumors, and inflammatory conditions, should be considered.

The activity of endogenous colony-stimulating factor (CSF) in malignant pleural effusions of lung cancer patients before and during daily intrapleural infusions of recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2) was measured quantitatively by colony-forming bioassay and radioimmunoassay (RIA). Before therapy, malignant pleural effusions had various levels of CSF activities, and this CSF activity was neutraliz...

The response of the fibrinolytic system to inflammatory mediators in empyema and complicated parapneumonic pleural effusions is still uncertain. We prospectively analysed 100 patients with pleural effusion: 25 with empyema or complicated parapneumonic effusion, 22 with tuberculous effusion, 28 with malignant effusion and 25 with transudate effusion. Inflammatory mediators, tumour necrosis facto...

Background: Measurement of pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA) and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes activity has gained increasing popularity as a diagnostic test for tuberculous and non-tuberculous pleuritis, especially in countries where the prevalence of TB is high. It carries a high sensitivity, inexpensive and easy. Objective: To demonstrate the diagnostic value of increased level o...

The pleural space is created by the parietal and visceral pleura that line the chest wall and the lung surface, respectively. Normally, only a small amount (0.3 mL/kg) of hypotonic fluid is present within the pleural space due to homeostatic balances in physiologic fluid production and absorption. Various infectious and noninfectious processes can lead to pathologic filling of the pleural space...

Background: Pleural effusion cytology is challenging due to overlap between reactive and malignant processes. Pulmonary transplant patients are immunosuppressed, and at higher risk for both malignant and infectious conditions. This study evaluates atypia in pleural effusions from lung transplantation patients. Methods: All patients who underwent lung transplantation and had a post-transplant pl...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important mediator of angiogenesis and vascular permeability. We hypothesized that malignant pleural effusions may contain high levels of VEGF protein as well as other cytokines implicated in these processes. Pleural effusions cytologically proven to be malignant were collected from 39 patients with various types of cancer, and VEGF, interleukin-8...