Abstract
Objectives
Pleural effusion, defined as an abnormal accumulation of fluid in pleural space, can be of two types: transudative and exudative. The primary aim of the study was to assess the predictive accuracy of procalcitonin (PCT) and pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) in comparison to other biochemical markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP), and adenosine deaminase (ADA) in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusions.
Methods
A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted on patients with pleural effusion. Multiple comparisons and receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analyses were made to evaluate the diagnostic significance of biochemical markers.
Results
Sixty-six patients with exudative pleural effusion classified as malignant, tuberculous, and parapneumonic effusions (malignant pleural effusion [MPE], tuberculous [TPE], and parapneumonic [PPE]) were included. Significant differences in pleural fluid levels in both PCT (p-value: 0.001) and PTX-3(p-value: 0.001), as well as serum levels of PCT (p-value: 0.001), were observed between the three groups. ROC analysis showed both PTX-3 and PCT having favorable discrimination ability with high sensitivity (≥90%) and specificity to predict PPE from TPE and MPE.
Conclusions
Evaluation of serum and pleural fluid PCT and levels of PTX-3 in the pleural fluid may be used as an early biomarker to differentiate the etiology of pleural effusion.
Role of Various Biochemical Markers for the Differential Diagnosis of Exudative and Transudative Pleural Effusion and its Comparison with Traditional Light’s Criteria
