Tumour necrosis factor-alpha in comparison to adenosine deaminase in tuberculous pleuritis

BACKGROUND: Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is already used for the differential diagnosis of tuberculosis pleurisy. Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) is another marker which has been investigated for this purpose. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the diagnostic value of pleural fluid and serum TNF concentrations in tuberculous pleuritis and compared them to ADA. METHODS: Sixty-two patients (24 tuberculous pleuritis, 38 non-tuberculous pleuritis) with exudative pleurisy were included. Serum and pleural fluid TNF concentrations were determined in all patients and ADA activity in 54 patients. Pleural fluid TNF concentrations and pleural fluid/serum TNF were compared to pleural fluid ADA activity and pleural fluid/serum ADA. RESULTS: When the tuberculous and non-tuberculous groups were compared, pleural fluid TNF concentrations (65.4 +/- 136.9 pg/ml vs. 54.5 +/- 144.2 pg/ml, respectively; p < 0.001), pleural fluid ADA activity (74.2 +/- 33.3 U/l vs. 23 +/- 16.3 U/l; p < 0.0001), pleural fluid/serum TNF (2.55 +/- 5.23 vs. 0.26 +/- 0.2; p < 0.001) and pleural fluid/serum ADA (4.58 +/- 8.14 vs. 1.15 +/- 0.7; p < 0.0001) were significantly higher in the tuberculous group. When cut-off points were assessed, 8 pg/ml and 40 U/l were found for pleural fluid TNF concentrations and pleural fluid ADA activity, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve were 87.5%, 76.3%, 0.772 for pleural fluid TNF concentrations and 90.9%, 89.5%, 0.952 for pleural fluid ADA activity, respectively; the difference between these areas under the curves was significant (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Pleural fluid TNF levels and pleural fluid/serum TNF were higher in tuberculous effusions than in other exudates, but their diagnostic value appears to be poorer than that of ADA.     

Comparison of six biological markers for the diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis

STUDY OBJECTIVE: We sought a marker to differentiate tuberculous pleural effusions from nontuberculous pleural effusions, which otherwise can be difficult. PATIENTS: We studied 55 patients with pleural effusions, 20 (36%) with tuberculous pleuritis and 35 (64%) with a nontuberculous etiology. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Pleural fluid levels of adenosine deaminase, interferon (INF)-gamma, interleukin (IL)-12p40, IL-18, immunosuppressive acidic protein, and soluble IL-2 receptors were measured and were subjected to receiver operating characteristic analysis. INF-gamma had the greatest sensitivity and specificity for tuberculous pleuritis among the six biological markers studied. CONCLUSION: The determination of INF-gamma levels in pleural fluid is the most informative in the diagnosis of tuberculous effusion.     

Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculous pleurisy--with special reference to the significance of measurement of pleural fluid cytokines

Tuberculous pleurisy as well as malignant pleuritis is a representative disease presenting pleural effusion. The diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy is made from examination of pleural effusion, but the sensitivity of smear or culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from pleural fluid is generally low. Although the pleural fluid concentration of adenosine deaminase (ADA) is useful in terms of sensitivity or specificity, the value could be high in empyema or rheumatoid pleuritis. Thoracoscopic biopsy of pleura is more sensitive rather than conventional percutaneous needle biopsy, but is more invasive. Tuberculous pleural effusion is caused by delayed allergy which macrophage and T-helper 1 cells mainly relate and the stimuli of bacterial body consecutively induces T-helper 1 cytokines. Pleural fluid interferon-gamma (INF-gamma) is important not only in pathogenesis but also in diagnosis. We demonstrated that INF-gamma is a more sensitive and specific indicator for tuberculous pleurisy than ADA using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. Cytometric bead array (CBA) is a tool to simultaneously measure abundance of various cytokines and is expected to be a very useful method to provide informations for understanding a feedback mechanism of cytokine network. It is needed to clear the immunity in pleural fluid and to establish the less invasive and more useful method to diagnose tuberculous pleurisy.     

Adenosine deaminase 2 in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis

PURPOSE: We examined the usefulness of adenosine deaminase 2 (ADA2) in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis. SUBJECTS: A hundred cases, 78 male and 22 female, with pleural effusion were examined. With regard to pleural effusion, 18 cases were transudate and 82 cases (9 tuberculous pleuritis, 27 lung cancer, 8 mesothelioma, 5 malignant diseases except lung cancer and mesothelioma, 5 benign asbestos pleurisy, 10 empyema, 10 parapneumonic effusion, one SLE, one parasitic infection, and 6 undetermined etiology) were exudates. The last 6 cases with unknown origin were excluded in this study. RESULTS: Pleural adenosine deaminase (ADA) was 90.4 +/- 22.4 U/l (mean +/- SD) and pleural ADA2 was 80.4 +/- 21.9 U/l in tuberculous pleuritis, both were significantly higher than those in non-tuberculous exudates (p < 0.001). In the diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis, pleural ADA showed 100% sensitivity and 88% specificity, whereas pleural ADA2 showed 100% sensitivity and 91% specificity. CONCLUSION: Pleural ADA2 is useful in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis, which has similar sensitivity and a little better specificity compared with pleural ADA.     

Diagnostic utility of adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in pleural fluid and serum of tuberculous and non-tuberculous respiratory disease patients

Adenosine deaminase activity (ADA) was assayed in pleural fluid and serum of 42 subjects with pleural effusion. Twenty-nine of them had TB pleural effusion and the remaining 13 had pleural effusion due to non-TB respiratory diseases. Serum adenosine deaminase activity were also measured in 32 pulmonary tuberculosis patients without pleural effusion and equal numbers of healthy controls without systemic diseases for comparative analysis. The patients attending the medicine out-patient department (MOPD) of the B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal were taken as study subjects. Serum and pleural fluid ADA activities were assayed spectrophotometrically by the method of Guisti and Gallanti. The mean serum ADA activity was significantly increased in patients with tubercular pleural effusion (34.53 +/- 10.27 IU/l) compared to pulmonary tuberculosis patients without pleural effusion (26.54 +/- 4.76 IU/l), (p = 0.004), those with non-TB respiratory disease (16.71 +/- 5.16 IU/l), (p = 0.0001) and healthy controls (15.53 +/- 4.4 IU/l) (p = 0.0001). The mean ADA in the pleural fluid of tubercular pleural effusion patients (90.29 +/- 54.80 IU/l) was significantly higher compared to those with non-TB respiratory disease (24.43 +/- 9.28 IU/l) (p = 0.0001). Using the lowest cutoff value for enzyme activity in the serum of patients with TB pleural effusion (25 IU/l), a test sensitivity of 72.41% and specificity of 81.53% were obtained. Using the lowest cutoff value for enzyme activity in pleural fluid of patients with TB pleural effusion (45 IU/l) the sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis were 76.10% and 100%, respectively. Therefore, the measurement of ADA in tubercular pleural effusion has a utility in the diagnosis of tuberculosis when other clinical and laboratory tests are negative.     

胸水ADA、TB-DNA联合检测在结核性胸膜炎中的诊断运用

目的分析胸水ADA、TB-DNA联合检测对结核性胸膜炎诊断运用价值。方法对我院收治的结核性胸膜炎患者183例、癌性胸水患者65例以及炎性胸水患者49例作为研究对象,分别进行ADA、TB-DNA的检测,并对ADA、TB-DNA在三种疾病中的阳性率以及对结核性胸膜炎的敏感度、特异性以及准确性进行分析。结果结核性胸膜炎患者的ADA含量(72.3±23.2 IU/L)明显高于炎性胸水患者(38.4±12.9 IU/L)以及癌性胸水患者(24.3±6.5 IU/L);ADA、TB-DNA联合检测对结核性胸膜炎的特异性84.2%,敏感性98.91%以及准确性为93.26%。结论对结核性胸膜炎患者采用胸水ADA、TB-DNA联合检测可明显提高其检出率,并有助于对结核性胸膜炎胸水、癌性胸水以及炎性胸水的鉴别。     

Evaluation of a new inflammatory molecule (triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1) in the diagnosis of pleural effusion

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-1 (TREM-1) is a newly discovered molecule that is associated with the inflammatory response to microorganisms. We investigated the role of surface and soluble TREM-1 in differentiating different disease entities in pleural effusion formation. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients with pleural effusion due to transudate (14), malignancy (15), tuberculous pleuritis (16), para-pneumonic effusion (10) and empyaema (12) were included in this study. Surface TREM-1 was measured by flow cytometry and was expressed as mean fluorescence intensity and soluble TREM-1 was measured by ELISA and expressed as pg/mL. Results are given as mean levels +/- SEM. RESULTS: Surface TREM-1 was measured in 24 patients and the levels were highest in para-pneumonic effusion (30.0 +/- 8.4) and lowest in malignant pleural effusion (5.2 +/- 1.1) and tuberculous pleuritis (5.2 +/- 2.4). Soluble TREM-1 was highest in effusions of infectious aetiology (para-pneumonic effusion (979.4 +/- 229.6) and empyaema (1712.6 +/- 299.5)) and lowest in non-infectious effusions (transudate (81.2 +/- 4.5 pg/mL) and malignancy (111.3 +/- 20.7). At a cut-off value of 114 pg/mL, soluble TREM-1 yielded a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 89.7% in differentiating non-infectious effusion from tuberculous pleuritis. At a cut-off value of 374 pg/mL, sTREM-1 yielded a sensitivity of 93.8% and a specificity of 90.9 in differentiating tuberculous pleuritis from bacterial pleural effusion. Conclusion: Soluble and surface TREM-1 are valuable markers in establishing the aetiology of pleural effusions.     

Clinical significance of serum CA125 in patients with tuberculous pleurisy

We measured CA125 levels of the sera and pleural effusions in both patients with tuberculous pleurisy (TB) and with benign non-tuberculous pleurisy (non-TB). In all the TB patients, serum CA125 levels were increased (78 to 370 U/ml, mean +/- SD = 167.3 +/- 96.8 U/ml, n = 8), and were significantly higher than those in non-TB patients (167.3 +/- 96.8 U/ml v.s. 36.9 +/- 18.4 U/ml, p less than 0.01). Neoplastic diseases or gynecological disorders were not found in these patients. On the other hand, either CA125 or LDH levels of pleural effusions were not significantly different between these two groups. Although adenosine deaminase (ADA) levels in pleural effusions were also significantly higher in the TB patients (p less than 0.05), there were no correlation between serum CA125 and ADA levels in pleural effusions. Serial measurement of serum CA125 levels in the TB patients revealed that serum CA125 levels were markedly decreased one to two months after anti-tuberculous therapy (172.6 +/- 103.3 U/ml to 23.3 +/- 9.9 U/ml, p less than 0.01). It is suggested that the measurement of serum CA125 in patients with tuberculous pleurisy is useful as an indicator of disease activity.     

Occurrence of matrix metalloproteinases and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases in tuberculous pleuritis

OBJECTIVE: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP) have been found in high concentrations in pleural effusions. Because MMP and TIMP may play a part in the causation of the fibrosis seen in tuberculous (TB) pleuritis their occurrence was examined. DESIGN: Pleural effusion fluid and plasma concentrations of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-8, MMP-9, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were determined by ELISA in 21 patients with TB pleuritis. To adjust for the total protein content, respective ratios were calculated. Activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured by gelatine zymography and the MMP-9/MMP-2 ratios calculated. Pleural effusions and plasma of 15 patients with congestive heat failure (CHF) and plasma of 15 healthy persons (CON) served as controls. RESULTS: Immunoreactive pleural fluid concentrations of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-8, and MMP-9 were higher in TB compared to CHF, but plasma concentrations were not different between the groups. TB pleural fluid concentrations of MMP-1, MMP-2, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 were higher compared to TB plasma. MMP-3 was found in trace amounts only. The MMP-9/total protein ratios in pleural fluid were higher in TB compared to CHF (0.4492+/-0.1633 vs 0.0364+/-0.0145, P<0.005) but the TIMP-1 ratios were lower (139.0+/-28.7 vs 517.8+/-183.7, P<0.0005). In TB pleural fluid vs TB plasma, the respective MMP-1, MMP-2, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 ratios were increased (0.46+/-0.10 vs 0.17+/-0.02; 25.2+/-2.8 vs 4.2+/-0.9; 139.0+/-28.7 vs 27.8+/-8.2; 0.67+/-0.13 vs 0.18+/-0.04, P<0.0005 each). Gelatine zymography demonstrated MMP-2 and MMP-9 bands of different brightness in TB effusions but in CHF effusions the MMP-9 band was barely visible. The MMP-9/MMP-2 effusion ratios were therefore higher in TB compared to CHF (0.46+/-0.15 vs 0.05+/-0.04, P<0.0005). CONCLUSION: Compartmentalized MMP-1, MMP-2, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 and, compared to CHF, a surplus of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-8, and MMP-9 in the pleural space obviously contribute to the fibrotic reactions in TB pleuritis.     

检测血清和胸液E—选择素对鉴别良恶性疾病的意义

目的 通过检测结核性胸膜炎及癌性胸液患血清及胸液的Ｅ－选择素水平，探讨其对鉴别良恶性疾病的意义。方法 采用酶联免疫吸附法（ＥＬＩＳＡ）检测２５例结核性胸膜炎及２１例癌性胸液患血清及胸液的Ｅ－选择素水平。结果 结核性胸膜炎患血清Ｅ－选择素水平为４４±５μｇ／Ｌ、胸液Ｅ－选择素水平２４±３μｇ／Ｌ。明显高于癌性胸液患血清（２７±４μｇ／Ｌ）及胸液（１１±３μｇ＋Ｌ），且重叠性很小。此外，结核性     

Diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis by the measurement of soluble interleukin 2 receptor in pleural fluid.

OBJECTIVE: As soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) is a marker of T-lymphocyte activation, we sought to determine whether its measurement in pleural fluid is diagnostically useful in tuberculous pleurisy. DESIGN: We compared the concentrations of sIL-2R in pleural samples of 23 patients with tuberculous pleurisy and 109 patients with non-tuberculous effusions (34 malignant, 34 parapneumonic, 27 transudates and 14 miscellaneous). sIL-2R was measured by a commercial ELISA test and its performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. RESULTS: The mean values of pleural sIL-2R were 9179 U/mL in patients with tuberculous pleurisy vs 3664 U/mL in patients with malignancy, 2603 U/mL in patients with parapneumonic effusions, 1016 U/mL in patients with transudates, and 1906 U/mL in patients with miscellaneous diseases (P < 0.0001). A ROC curve identified the best cut-off at 4700 U/mL, yielding measures for sensitivity (0.91), specificity (0.94) and accuracy (0.94). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this pilot study suggest that pleural sIL-2R appears to be clinically useful for differentiating between tuberculous and non-tuberculous pleural effusions.     

Diagnostic utility of serum and pleural fluid carcinoembryonic antigen, neuron-specific enolase, and cytokeratin 19 fragments in patients with effusions from primary lung cancer

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess the diagnostic values of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and cytokeratin 19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1) as markers of pleurisy in primary lung cancer. DESIGN: Prospective case-control study. SETTING: A tertiary university hospital. PATIENTS: Thirty-four patients with lung cancer and 16 patients with tuberculous pleurisy. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Levels of CEA, NSE, and CYFRA 21-1 were measured by immunoassay in the serum and pleural fluid of patients with lung cancer and of patients with tuberculous pleurisy. Patients with lung cancer were found to have significantly higher serum and pleural fluid levels of CEA and CYFRA 21-1 than patients with tuberculous pleurisy. Using cutoff values of 5 ng/mL, 20 ng/mL, and 3.3 ng/mL for serum CEA, NSE, and CYFRA 21-1, respectively, the sensitivities and specificities of these tumor markers were as follows for differentiating malignant effusion from benign: CEA, 68% and 93%; NSE, 34% and 93%; and CYFRA 21-1, 45% and 100%. Using cutoff values of 5 ng/mL, 20 ng/mL, and 45 ng/mL for pleural fluid, the sensitivities and specificities were as follows: CEA, 82% and 94%; NSE, 36% and 94%; and CYFRA 21-1, 61% and 81%. A combination of pleural fluid CEA and NSE increased sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: In the diagnosis of malignant effusion associated with lung cancer, the determinations of CEA and NSE in pleural fluid could enhance diagnostic yield better than those of all three tumor markers.     

Adenosine deaminase activity in pleural fluid--a diagnostic test of tuberculous pleural effusion.

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in pleural fluids was studied in 47 patients with pleural effusion of different etiology. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I - Tuberculous pleural effusion (21 patients): Group II - Non tuberculous effusion (26 patients) and these included malignant pleural effusion (9 cases), synpneumonic pleural effusion (9 cases) and transudative pleural effusion (8 cases). The mean ADA activity was 64.67 IU/L +/- 21.68 in group I and 6.99 +/- 3.69 in Group II. Increased mean pleural fluid ADA activity in tuberculous pleural effusion was highly significant (p < 0.001) when compared with pleural effusion of non-tuberculous etiology. Based on lowest value of ADA activity found in tuberculous pleural effusion (30 IU/L), the test has a sensitivity and specificity of 1.     

CXCL12 as a biological marker for the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy

Although a chemokine CXCL12 is implicated in some infectious diseases, especially those in which T cell-mediated immunity plays critical roles, the relevance of CXCL12 to tuberculosis has never been elucidated. To determine the clinical efficacy of CXCL12 as a diagnostic marker for tuberculous (TB) pleurisy, we measured CXCL12 concentration in pleural fluid and serum from patients with various etiologies. Of 60 patients with pleural fluid, the median age of TB patients was 52 which was significantly lower than 71 of non-TB patients (P?相似文献   

Diagnostic significance of gamma-interferon in tuberculous pleurisy

We studied ADA and gamma interferon (gamma-IFN) levels in pleural fluid of 45 cases presenting with pleural effusion to the Ankara University School of Medicine Chest Diseases Hospital between September 2001 and September 2002. Fifteen patients had TB pleurisy, 20 patients had malignant pleurisy and 10 patients had transudative pleural effusion. The cut-off value for pleural fluid gamma-IFN levels were 12 pg/mL. According to this, all patients with transudative effusions, 19 of 10 patients with malignant effusions and 2 of 15 patients with tuberculous (TB) effusions had pleural fluid gamma-IFN levels under the cut-off value. In exudative effusions, sensitivity and specificity of gamma-IFN were 87% and 95% respectively. The sensitivity of pleural fluid ADA levels was 86% and specificity of pleural fluid ADA levels was 100%. Pleural fluid ADA levels in TB effusions were significantly higher than the non-TB effusions. Also there were no statistically significant differences between pleural fluid ADA and g-IFN levels according to sensitivity and specificity. As a result, we have shown that gamma-IFN is a valuable test in diagnosis of TB pleurisy. We think that when it is used routinely, it will be a good alternative to the conventional invasive diagnostic tests.     

胸腔积液中IL-27及Gene Xpert MTB/RIF联合检测有助于结核性胸膜炎的快速诊断

目的：观察胸腔积液中白介素-27（IL-27）、结核杆菌利福平耐药基因（Gene Xpert MTB/RIF）表达水平在结核性胸膜炎快速诊断中的应用价值。方法：回顾性分析128例结核性胸膜炎患者的临床资料，另选择同期收治的128例非结核性胸膜炎胸腔积液患者为对照（恶性胸腔积液组、类肺炎性胸腔积液组与漏出性胸腔积液组分别61例、36例与31例），采用酶联免疫吸附法检测患者胸腔积液中IL-27水平，并予以Gene Xpert MTB/RIF试验，以临床综合诊断结果为金标准，评估IL-27、Gene Xpert MTB/RIF水平在结核性胸膜炎诊断中的应用价值。结果：结核性胸膜炎组胸腔积液中IL-27水平显著高于恶性胸腔积液组、类肺炎性胸腔积液组与漏出性胸腔积液组（F=112.944，P均<0.05）；IL-27诊断结核性胸膜炎的AUC值为0.875，敏感度为73.43%、特异性为85.16%；Gene Xpert MTB/RIF诊断结核性胸膜炎敏感度、特异性分别为77.34%、100.00%；两者联合诊断结核性胸膜炎的敏感度为86.72%，特异性为100.00%。结论：胸腔积液中IL-27、Gene Xpert MTB/RIF水平对结核性胸膜炎的诊断有一定意义，联合检测有助于结核性胸膜炎的诊断。     

胸水抗PPD-IgG在结核性胸膜炎中的临床意义

目的：评价胸水抗PPD－IgG检测对结核性胸膜炎的临床意义。方法：采用斑点免疫金渗滤技术（金标法）检测70例结核性胸膜炎患血清及胸水抗PPD－IgG，同时作PPD皮试，并随机选择24例非结核性胸腔积液作为对照组。结果：结核组血清、胸水中抗PPD－IgG阳性中分别为60．00％和52．86％，显高于对照组血清及胸水中抗PPD－IgG阳性中（8．33％和16．67％），P＜0．01；血清抗PPD－IgG敏感性为60．00％，特异性91．67％，胸水抗PPD－IgG敏感性52．86％，特异性83．33％，同时测胸水、血清抗PPD-IgG敏感性68．57％，特异性91．67％。结核组PPD总阳性率73．81％。结论：同时测定血清、胸水抗PPD－IgG联合PPD皮试，将会提高结核性胸膜炎诊断的敏感性和诊断率。     

Use of pleural fluid C-reactive protein in diagnosis of pleural effusions

The aims of the study were to assess whether C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive marker for discriminating between transudative and exudative and pleural effusions to evaluate whether it can be used to distinguish inflammatory pleural effusions from other types of effusion. Pleural fluid and serum CRP levels were obtained in 97 patients with pleural effusion, using an immunoturbidimetric method (Olympus AU-600 autoanalyser). We compared CRP levels between transudates and exudates, inflammatory effusions and other types of effusion. According to the criteria used, 16 patients were included in the transudate group and 81 patients in the exudate group. Pleural fluid CRP levels were significantly lower in the transudate group (P<0.04; 14.9 +/- 4.9 mg l(-1) and 35.5 +/- 4.9 mg l(-1) respectively). Also, the ratio of pleural fluid to serum was significantly lower in the transudate group (P<0.009; 0.8 +/- 0.5 mg l(-1) and 2.8 +/- 0.7 mg l(-1), respectively). In the exudate group, 35 patients had neoplastic effusions, 10 chronic non-specific pleurisy, 19 tuberculous pleurisy, 16 parapneumonic effusion and one Dressler Syndrome. When these sub-groups were compared, the parapneumonic effusion subgroup CRP levels (mean 89 +/- 16.3 mg l(-1)) were significantly higher than those in the other subgroups, other exudate of neoplastic effusion, tuberculous pleurisy and chronic non-specific effusion and the transudate group (P<0.0001; P<0.0001; P<0.0004 and P<0.0001, respectively). The ratio between pleural fluid and serum CRP was significantly higher in the parapneumonic effusion subgroup than in the neoplastic subgroup (P<0.0002; 6.6 +/- 2.7 mg l(-1) and 1 +/- 0.2 mg l(-1), respectively). Pleural fluid CRP levels > 30 mg l(-1) had a high sensitivity (93.7%) and specificity (76.5%) and a positive predictive value of 98.4%. In the differential diagnosis of pleural effusions, higher CRP levels may prove to be a rapid, practical and accurate method of differentiating parapneumonic effusions from other exudate types. Although the high level of CRP obtained in the exudate group may be due to the number of patients with parapneumonic effusion who were included, the pleural CRP level may also be helpful in discriminating between exudative and transudative pleural effusions.     

Useful tests on the pleural fluid in the management of patients with pleural effusions.

Examination of the pleural fluid is useful in establishing the etiology of a pleural effusion. Transudative pleural effusions can be differentiated from exudative pleural effusions by measuring the levels of protein and lactic acid dehydrogenase in the pleural fluid and serum. If a patient clinically appears to have a transudative pleural effusion, but the pleural fluid meets exudative criteria, demonstration that the albumin levels is more than 1.2 gm/dl higher in the serum than in the pleural fluid provides evidence that the effusion is transudative. The gross appearance of the pleural fluid should always be noted. Other tests that routinely should be obtained on exudative pleural fluids are Gram stain and cultures, cell counts and differential, glucose, amylase, lactic acid dehydrogenase, cytology, and a marker for tuberculous pleuritis. The diagnosis of tuberculous pleuritis is strongly suggested by a pleural fluid adenosine deaminase level above 45 IU/L or a gamma interferon level above 3.7 U/ml.     

结核性胸膜炎合并2型糖尿病患者外周血及胸腔积液结核感染T细胞斑点试验检测结果的对比研究

目的: 探讨合并2型糖尿病对结核性胸膜炎患者外周血及胸腔积液结核感染T细胞斑点试验(T-SPOT.TB)检测结果的影响。方法: 收集2016—2021年西安市胸科医院收治的诊断为结核性胸膜炎的444例患者,依据是否合并2型糖尿病,分为结核性胸膜炎合并2型糖尿病组(合并糖尿病组;116例)和未合并糖尿病的结核性胸膜炎组(非糖尿病组;328例)。分别采集两组患者抗结核药物治疗前胸腔积液和外周血标本,进行T-SPOT.TB检测,分析两组患者T-SPOT.TB检测结果的差异。结果: 合并糖尿病组和非糖尿病组患者外周血T-SPOT.TB检测阳性率分别为46.55%(54/116)和56.10%(184/328),差异无统计学意义(χ²=3.140,P=0.076);胸腔积液T-SPOT.TB检测阳性率分别为65.52%(76/116)和88.41%(290/328),合并糖尿病组明显低于非糖尿病组,差异有统计学意义(χ²=31.025,P<0.001)。合并糖尿病组和非糖尿病组患者胸腔积液T-SPOT.TB检测阳性率均高于外周血,差异均有统计学意义(χ²=4.845,P=0.028;χ²=12.848,P<0.001)。结论: 当结核性胸膜炎患者合并2型糖尿病时,胸腔积液T-SPOT.TB检测阳性率降低,但仍高于外周血T-SPOT.TB检测结果;建议考虑优先行胸腔积液T-SPOT.TB检测,以提高阳性检出率。