BACKGROUND Previous reports have suggested that the appearance of pleural effusions (i.e., the presence or absence of blood) might help to establish the etiology of the effusions. This study explores the relationship between pleural fluid appearance and the results of chemical and cytological analyses in a group of patients with recurrent symptomatic pleural effusions and a diagnosis of cancer....

Levels of IgG, IgA, IgM, the total haemolytic complement (CH50), and the individual components C1q, C3, C4, C6, and C7 were measured in 29 pleural effusions. Of these, 18 were associated with carcinoma of the bronchus and 11 were non-malignant effusions including empyemas. The level of IgG was significantly lower in the malignant group when compared with non-malignant effusions. The usefulness ...

The pharmacokinetic parameters of gentamicin and tobramycin were evaluated and compared for 260 patients with pleural effusions and 1,049 patients without pleural effusions by chest radiograph. Pharmacokinetic data were collected prospectively and analyzed by using our aminoglycoside data base. Univariate analysis revealed that the patients with pleural effusions demonstrated significantly lowe...

A critical review of the work done in this area indicates that, of the available enzyme systems now used in clinical diagnosis, the LDH system is the only one of significant value in the examination of pleural and peritoneal effusions. In terms of differential diagnosis, estimation of pleural or peritoneal fluid LDH levels will enable the examiner to distinguish between poorly cellular vs. abun...

To the Editor: In the article entitled "Management of Pleural Effusions in Breast Cancer" (Chest 7 5 : 5 1 5 3 , 1 9 7 9 ) , Lees and Hoy report their experience in treating pleural effusions associated with carcinoma of the breast. While their study is a retrospective analysis, the numbers are large, and their technique for instillation of sclerosing agents into the pleural space following dra...

The presence of bilateral large effusions in sarcoidosis is unu­ sual. The reported prevalence of pleural involvement in sar­ coidosis varies from 0 to 5% [1] with unilateral, small effusions usually. Clinically significant bilateral effusions in sarcoidosis are rare. There are few other reports of sarcoidosis presenting with bilateral pleural effusions but the quantity of fluid was small and c...

we report a rare case of brucellosis presenting with pleural and pericardial effusions in a 35 year-old male rancher in iran with fever and dyspnea. such findings should prompt inclusion of brucellosis in the differential diagnosis in endemic areas.

We herein report a rare case of a 66-year-old woman who had synovitis-acne-pustulosis-hyperostosis-osteitis (SAPHO) syndrome with marked sternal osteitis and bilateral pleural effusions. SAPHO syndrome was diagnosed based on the characteristic features of a hyperostotic sternum and thoracic spine. The inflammatory changes of sternal osteitis and involvement of the adjacent soft tissue were assu...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of pericardial and pleural effusions in scleroderma. METHODS Using a case-control format, patients with scleroderma and no known cardiac disease were recruited. Echocardiograms and chest radiographs were performed. Age- and gender-matched controls had echocardiograms performed which were read by a cardiologist, blinded to the diagnosis. The medical records...