background: accumulation of pleural and peritoneal fluid is seen in some diseases. in order to diagnose the disease and start the treatment, one of the most important actions will be to differentiate between exudates and transudates. the objective of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of measuring the specific gravity of the fluid through refractometer and strip in differentiation...

Two patients with pleural plaques developed pleural effusion and subsequent diffuse pleural fibrosis 50 and 39 yrs after their first exposure to asbestos. The diagnosis of benign asbestos pleural effusion was suggested, but the work-up finally suggested bromocriptine-induced pleural disease in both patients. These two cases illustrate that drug-induced pleural effusion is an important different...

We examined the phenotypes of lymphocytes in the pleural cavity of 23 lung cancer patients without malignant effusion. The ability of those lymphocytes to develop lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) activity and the regulation of LAK by pleural cavity macrophages were also compared with their counterparts in the peripheral blood. Mononuclear cells (MNC) were obtained simultaneously from the blood...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To evaluate the usefulness of two new parameters for separating pleural transudates and exudates: pleural fluid cholinesterase level and pleural fluid to serum cholinesterase ratio, and to compare the results with the other well-established criteria. DESIGN Prospective evaluation of the patients referred for diagnostic thoracentesis. SETTING Pulmonary sections of a community...

OBJECTIVES Chest ultrasonography is a useful diagnostic tool for the detection of pleural effusions of different etiologies. Our purpose was to determine whether the echogenic swirling pattern identifiable on real-time chest ultrasonographic images is a predictor of malignant pleural effusions in patients with malignancies. DESIGN Medical records of patients undergoing chest ultrasonography i...

Pleural tuberculosis (TB), a form of extrapulmonary TB, can be difficult to diagnose. High numbers of lymphocytes in pleural fluid have been considered part of the diagnostic criteria for pleural TB; however, in many cases, neutrophils rather than lymphocytes are the predominant cell type in pleural effusions, making diagnosis more complicated. Additionally, there is limited information on the ...

Integrated whole-body 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) is a non-invasive imaging technique for identifying several types of malignant diseases. We evaluated the role of PET/CT in distinguishing malignant from benign pleural diseases. Thirty patients, who had pleural abnormalities on computed tomography (CT), such as thickening, fluid with suspicion...

To further define the relationship between asbestos-induced pleural fibrosis and restrictive lung function, we investigated the pleural determinants of respiratory symptoms and restrictive physiology in 1,211 sheet metal workers. We evaluated the relationship between specific components of pleural fibrosis (costophrenic angle involvement, diaphragmatic plaques, width and length of pleural fibro...

Pleural effusion is not a rare disease in Korea. The diagnosis of pleural effusion is very difficult, even though the patients often complain of typical symptoms indicating of pleural diseases. Pleural effusion is characterized by the pleural cavity filled with transudative or exudative pleural fluids, and it is developed by various etiologies. The presence of pleural effusion can be confirmed ...