scholarly journals Role of Pleural Biopsy in the Etiological Diagnosis of Exudative Pleural Effusion

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-36
Author(s):  
Jamal Uddin Ahmed ◽  
Mohammad Delwar Hossain ◽  
Farhana Afroz ◽  
Muhammad Abdur Rahim ◽  
AKM Musa

Purpose: Exudative pleural effusion usually indicates an underlying pulmonary pathology. Sometimes etiological diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion is difficult despite cytological, biochemical and microbiological tests. Aim of present study was to make an etiological diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion by pleural biopsy.Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was performed from January 2012 to December 2014 in the Department of Internal Medicine & Pulmonology of BIRDEM General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 51 patients with exudative pleural effusion in whom the diagnosis was uncertain after routine biochemical, cytological and microbiological evaluation of pleural fluid were included in the study. These patients underwent pleural biopsy by Abram’s needle and histopathology was done to determine the etiology of pleural effusion.Results: Majority (74.5%) of the patients were male. Mean age of the patients was 52.7±16.0 years. Most (52.9%) patients had right sided pleural effusion. Histopathology report of the pleural biopsy showed granulomatous inflammation compatible with tuberculosis (TB) in 15 (29.4%), metastatic malignancy in 10 (19.6%) and chronic inflammation in 9 (17.6%) cases. In 17 (33.3%) cases the histopathology did not reveal any abnormality. Among 10 cases of metastatic malignancy, most (7, 70%) were adenocarcinoma. Compared to malignancy cases, TB cases were younger in age (Mean age: TB - 45.0±17.9 vs malignancy - 61.8±13.0 years). Pleural fluid was straw color in all (100%) cases of TB and hemorrhagic in almost all (90%) cases of metastatic malignancy (p 0.000). Mean value of pleural fluid protein (59.1±4.8 vs 47.3±4.2 gm/L; p 0.003), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (917.3±219.3 vs 464.3±112.3 U/L; p 0.101), adenosine deaminase (ADA) (39.0±3.7 vs 15.615.6±2.3 U/L; p 0.016), total leukocyte count (1039.3±776.8 vs 439.2±138.2 cells/cmm; p 0.328) and lymphocyte percentage (94.4±4.3 vs 68.3±9.3; p 0.003) were all raised in TB compared to metastatic malignancyConclusions: Pleural biopsy was definitive diagnostic in almost half the patients with exudative pleural effusion. Tuberculosis was more common than malignancy particularly in young persons. Pleural fluid protein, LDH and ADA are significantly raised in TB compared to malignancy.Bangladesh Crit Care J March 2017; 5(1): 33-36

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (47) ◽  
pp. 2783-2786
Author(s):  
Vengada Krishnaraj S.P. ◽  
Gayathri S. Mohan ◽  
Vinod Kumar V ◽  
Sridhar R

BACKGROUND The diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy is 95 %, of pleural fluid cytology it is 62 % and of closed pleural biopsy is 44 %, in malignant effusion. We wanted to study the diagnostic utility of flexible thoracoscopy in undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion and compare the thoracoscopy findings with the histopathology results. METHODS The study was conducted in the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Government Stanley Medical College, Chennai, from January 2019 to January 2020. 40 patients were enrolled in this longitudinal observational study with moderate to massive effusion and were evaluated with pleural fluid aspiration and sent for cytology, protein sugar analysis, total count, and ADA. Those cases which are exudative pleural effusions, with ADA value of less than 40 IU / L were subjected to thoracoscopy after being evaluated for fitness for thoracoscopy with complete blood count, bleeding time, clotting time, sputum for AFB, ECG, pulse oximetry, cardiac evaluation and CT chest. RESULTS Thoracoscopy was done in 40 enrolled patients. In this study, biopsy was taken from the parietal pleura in all the cases. Of these 40 cases, 30 were male and 10 were female, that is 75 % males and 25 % females. The mean age of the study population was 43 ± 14.9. Patient with the lowest age in this study group was 18 years and highest was 71 years. 16 cases (40 %) presented with left sided pleural effusion. 24 cases (60 %) presented with right sided pleural effusion. 30 cases presented with massive effusion, and 10 cases with moderate effusion. Of the 40 cases, 27 cases presented with straw coloured pleural effusion. 13 cases were haemorrhagic effusion. Histopathologic examination showed 11 cases as malignant and 29 cases as non-malignant out of which 18 cases were of tuberculosis aetiology. Thoracoscopy revealed adhesions in 13 cases and mass lesion in 4 cases. Of the 4 mass lesions 3 came as malignant, normal pleura in 11 cases, 10 were non-malignant and 1 was malignant. Nodules were seen in 12 cases of which 7 came as malignant. Straw coloured effusion was seen in 27 cases, of which 2 were malignant. CONCLUSIONS The most important indication for thoracoscopy is exudative undiagnosed pleural effusion. The overall diagnostic yield in pleural fluid cytology is 62 % and blind pleural biopsy is 44 %. The diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy varies from 60 % to 97 % in various studies, whereas, in our study, it is 72.5 %. Visualization of the visceral and parietal pleura is another advantage, so that we can take biopsy from the abnormal areas. KEYWORDS Flexible Thoracoscopy, Undiagnosed Exudative Pleural Effusion


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Sheilla Matheos ◽  
Isnin Anang Marhana ◽  
Anny Setijo Rahaju

Backgrounds: Tuberculosis pleural effusion is the most common extrapulmonary TB after lymphadenitis TB, but a definite diagnosis is still a challenge. Pleural biopsy has historically been the gold standard procedure for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis. GenXpert® is a computerize test based in nucleic acid amplification tahat automatically detect MTB and rifampicin resistance. This study aimed to prove the correlation between pleural fluid GenXpert® and histopathological findings of pleural biopsy in patients with pleural tuberculosis. Methods: This study used an observational analytic design with a cross-sectional design conducted in Dr. Soetomo Hospital, Surabaya in March-June 2017. Statistic analysis was using chi square test and contingensi coofisient. The pleural GenXpert® was tested in 23 patients with pleural effusion and their biopsy speciments underwent histopathological analysis. Results: Histopathological findings of pleural biopsy was positive in 4 subjects and pleural fluid GenXpert® resulted positive in 6 subjects. There was significant correlation between pleural fluid GenXpert® and histopathological findings of specimen pleural biopsy in patients with pleural tuberculosis (P=0.040) with moderate strenght (P=0.014). Sensitivity and specificity of pleural fluid GenXpert® were 75.0% dan 84.2% respectively. Conclusions: There was significant correlation between pleural fluid GenXpert® and histopathological findings of pleural biopsy in patients with pleural tuberculosis. (J Respir Indo 2018; 38(1): 1-6)


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Javed Asghar Magsi ◽  
Saulat Ullah Khan ◽  
Shamshad Rasul Awan

Pleural effusion is a common clinical problem in developed as well as developing countries. Tuberculosis and malignancy are common causes of exudative pleural effusion with lymphocytic predominance`. It is very difficult to diagnose the underlying cause by clinical, radiological or even pleural fluid analysis. These cases usually require pleural biopsy for definitive diagnosis2. Pleural biopsy is a safe ad reliable procedure ad is recomended to perform in all cases of exudative pleural effusion. Objective of this study was to list the frequency of patients with lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion diagnosed on pleural biopsy. This study was conducted at the Institute of Chest Medicine Mayo Hospital Lahore. A total of 50 patients, who fulfilled the criteria, were included in this study and underwent closed pleural biopsy. These were then investigated by histopathology. Histopathological examination of pleural biopsy was performed by department of pathology King Edwerd Medical College Lahore. A total of 5 0 patients underwent; closed pleural biopsy. Adequate pleural tissue was obtained in 30 patients (60% of cases) the most common diagnosis made was granulomatous inflammation most likely tuberculosis. Histopathological evaluation of pleural biopsy specimens can lead to diagnosis in 46% of patients with exudative lymphocytic pleural effusion.


2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-27
Author(s):  
Mahmudul Hasan ◽  
Md Rafiqul Islam ◽  
Abdul Matin ◽  
Ranjit Ranjan Roy ◽  
Md Abdullah Yusuf ◽  
...  

Background: Pleural effusion occurs in many reasons. Laboratory tests are necessary to find out the causes. Objective: This study was an attempt to know the laboratory findings of pleural effusion. Methodology: This cross-sectional study of thirty (30) admitted cases with pleural effusion confirmed by chest radiography and aspiration of pleural fluid from one (1) year to twelve (12) years age of either sex were collected purposively. This study was carried out from July 2009 to February 2010 in the Department of Pediatrics at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. All information were recorded in pre tested semi structured questionnaire. Results: Color of pleural fluid was straw in 56.7%, clear in 30.0%, blood stained in 13.3%. In this study, lymphocyte predominance among 56.7% cases, acid fast bacilli in 3.3% cases and raised protein of more than 3gm/dl and sugar less then 60mg/dl in 93.3% cases in pleural fluid. Conclusion: In almost all cases protein is raised and sugar is less in pleural fluid. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jssmc.v5i1.16201 J Shaheed Suhrawardy Med Coll, 2013;5(1):26-27


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (07) ◽  
pp. 1014-1019
Author(s):  
Kashif Sardar ◽  
Nasir Javed ◽  
Sufyan Saleem Safdar

Background: Pleural effusion is the one of the most common clinical conditions encountered in pulmonology clinics and the routinely performed tests on pleural fluid do not provide definitive diagnosis in majority of the cases. Medical thoracoscopy with pleural biopsy under direct vision of the abnormal area provides the highest diagnostic yield. Abrams closed needle pleural biopsy is a conventional and cheaper procedure which can help in the definitive diagosis in cases of undiagnosed pleural effusion. Objectives: To determine the diagnostic yield of abrams pleural biopsy in patients presenting with lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion. Study Design: Cross Sectional Study. Setting: Department of Pulmonology Nishtar Hospital Multan; Tertiary care hospital of 1180 beds. Period: Six months. Results: There were 145 patients diagnosed with lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion. Of these 145 study cases, males were 83/145 (57.2%) whereas females were 62/145 (42.8%). Mean age of our patients was 41.62 ± 13.63 years while mean duration of illness was 7.0 ± 3.24 weeks. When the frequencies of various diagnosis established on the basis of histopathology results obtained from the tissue specimen obtained with Abrams pleural biopsy was noted, Tuberculosis was the major cause of lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion as its frequency was noted to be in 81/145 (55.9%) of our patients while malignancy was present in 26/145 (17.9%) of our study cases whereas the histopathology turned out to be inconclusive in 38/145 (26.2%) showing non-specific inflammation. The diagnostic yield of Abrams pleural biopsy turned out to be 73.8% whereas it was unable to establish diagnosis in 26.2%. Conclusion: Abrams needle pleural biopsy is simple, reliable and safe method of diagnosis with a good diagnostic yield. Routine use of this procedure in patients with lymphocytic exudative pleural effusion can lead to a definitive diagnosis in majority of patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
Manoj Kumar Shah ◽  
Sushil Baral ◽  
Tulsi Bhattarai

Background: The diagnosis of pleural effusion and its cause are essential for pleural fluid analysis. We have evaluated clinical and laboratory differences among the tubercular pleural effusion. Methods: The cross-sectional, observational hospital based study was conducted in Bir hospital, Nepal. All patients were evaluated by clinically and laboratory investigations. Patients enrolled for study have pleural effusion and pleural fluid analysis indicative of an exudative pleural effusion using lights criteria. The criteria of enrollment of the patients were pleural fluid for Adenosine deaminizes value more than 40 IU/L, positive for gene xpert test and pleural effusion of any cases with sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis. Patients were divided into two groups lymphocytic and neutrophilic predominant pleural effusion. Results: Among 100 patients with diagnosis of exudative tubercular pleural effusion, the most common symptom was pleuritic chest pain in 85%, followed by fever in 84% and cough in 82%. Among the tubercular pleural effusion, 21% had neutrophils predominant and 79% had Lymphocytes predominant. The patients with neutrophil predominant Tubercular pleural effusion had higher fever rates (90.5vs.82.5%) than those with lymphocyte-predominant Tubercular pleural effusion. The mean value of Neutrophil predominant pleural fluid for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level was 1657.5 IU/L and protein was 5.3gm/dl and in lymphocyte predominant pleural fluid for LDH value was 610.2 IU/L and protein was 4.6 gm/dl; the difference was statistically significant with P value of <0.001. Only 15% of patients had sputum positive for Acid fast bacilli. Among the sputum positive patients, 47% had positive for pleural fluid for gene xpert test with all patients had rifampicin sensitive. The sensitivity of pleural fluid for gene xpert test was 46.6%, and specificity was 90%. Conclusion: In pleural effusion, the positivity of gene xpert for pleural fluid was higher among the sputum positive patients. The prevalence of Neutrophil-predominant pleural effusion was common in tubercular pleural effusion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 62-67
Author(s):  
AKM Shaheduzzaman ◽  
Devendra Nath Sarkar ◽  
Md Ferdous Wahid ◽  
Md Shafiul Alam ◽  
Md Mahfuzer Rahman ◽  
...  

Background: Pleural effusion remains the most common manifestation of pleural pathology. Sometime it is difficult to differentiate between tuberculous and malignant pleural effusion on routine cytological and biochemical examination. So pleural biopsy is an important tool for evaluating undiagnosed pleural effusion.Aim: To find out the role of pleural biopsy in the diagnosis of unilateral pleural effusion.Methods: This observational study was conducted in the Indoor patient department of Medicine in Rangpur Medical College Hospital from 01.01.2014 to 30.06.2014. All patients having unilateral pleural effusion above the age of 15 years irrespective of sex, race and religion was enrolled in this study.Results: Total fifty cases were enrolled in this study. Age of the patients varied from 16 to 78 years (Mean ±SD, yrs: 47±31.0). Thirty six (72%) patients were male and fourteen (28%) were female. 9 patients (18%) were of higher socio-economic status, 13 (26%) patients were from lower class, and 28 (56%) were from middle class. Majority (36%) of the patients were farmer, followed by 22% were businessman, 18% were service holder and 16% were housewives. Out of 50 patients, Nineteen patients (38%) were smoker and rests (62%) were non-smoker. Common presenting complaints were fever (78%), respiratory distress (62%), cough (56%), chest discomfort (38%) and weight loss (32%). General physical examination findings revealed 62% having different grades of anaemia followed by clubbing in 22% cases. Respiratory system examination revealed 56% having left sided pleural effusion followed by 44% right sided pleural effusion. 36% shows shifting of trachea. Regarding pleural fluid analysis, color of pleural fluid was straw in most cases (42%) and sixteen cases (32%) had hemorrhagic fluid. Mean total cell count in pleural fluid was 1449.1/c.mm. Most (88%) had lymphocyte predominance. Mean protein in pleural fluid was 5.6 gm/liter. Radiological examination revealed that maximum patient (56%) having left sided effusion and total 18 patients having shift of trachea. Close pleural biopsy for histopathological study revealed maximum (36%) were different types of malignancy, 24% chronic granulomatous inflammation consistent with tuberculosis, 16% shows non-specific chronic inflammation and 24% cases showed no abnormal findings or pleural tissue not available or inadequate tissue for histological report. Out of total 18 cases of malignancy, 08 revealed adenocarcinoma, 03 revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma, 02 revealed non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, 02 malignant mesothalioma and 03 of them revealed poorly differenciated carcinoma.Conclusion: In this study male are predominant. Most of the respondent was non-smoker. Most common presenting complains were fever, respiratory distress, cough, chest discomfort and weight loss. Most of general physical examination findings were anamia and clubbing. Respiratory system examination findings were features suggestive of pleural effusion (56% left sided and 44% right sided), 36% having shift of trachea. chest x-ray findings of most (56%) of the study population were left sided pleural effusion. Close pleural biopsy for histopathological study revealed maximum (36%) were different types of malignancy followed by chronic granulomatous inflammation consistent with tuberculosis (24%).Bangladesh J Medicine Jul 2016; 27(2) : 62-67


Author(s):  
Praveen Radhakrishnan ◽  
S Mathanraj

Introduction: Pleural effusions, the result of the accumulation of fluid in the pleural space, are a major diagnostic problem due to its anatomical nature with no direct access. There is variation in management, depending on the pleural disease. The pleural effusion can either exhibit specific or nonspecific characteristics. Aim: To determine the clinical significance and diagnostic role of pleural fluid C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level in the aetiological diagnosis of exudative pleural effusion. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study performed during the study period of September 2013 to December 2014. A total of 53 Patients identified with pleural effusion were recruited in the study and pleural fluid was subjected for the measurement of CRP level. Pleural fluid CRP was assessed with CRP-Turbilatex-Quantitative turbidimetric immunoassay method which is based on the principle agglutination reaction. The data was subjected to statistical analysis using Epi info software version 3.4.3. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to illustrate the diagnostic ability. The smallest cut-off value was the minimum observed test value minus 1, and the largest cut-off value was the maximum observed test value plus 1. All the other cut-off values were the averages of two consecutive ordered observed test values. Results: Among the 53 patients in the study, 42 had exudative effusions (79.20%) and 11 had transudative effusions (20.80%). The common cause of exudative effusion was tuberculosis 26 (61.90%), followed by 9 malignancy (21.40%) and 7 parapneumonic effusion (16.70%). In our study, the pleural fluid CRP was statistically significant (p<0.001) marker to differentiate exudative effusions with CRP-value <30 suggestive of malignancy, CRP-value 30-50 mg/L suggestive of tuberculosis and CRP-value >70 mg/L suggestive of parapneumonic effusions. Conclusion: Determination of pleural fluid CRP is a useful diagnostic marker for differentiating exudative and transudative effusions. Also, Pleural fluid CRP is a statistically significant marker in differentiating tubercular effusions from nontubercular exudative effusions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Isnin Anang Marhana ◽  
Asep Tri Handoko

Background: Pleural effusion is a frequent complication of advanced stage are obtained in patients with malignancy. Shortness of breath at rest and decreased exercise tolerance are major functional limitations for patients with cancer who develop extensive pleural effusion. Pleural fluid drainage followed by a pleurodesis can reduce the symptoms of shortness of breath and prevent pleural fluid reaccumulation. Unfortunately, pleurodesis attempts fail in 10 to 40% of patients with recurrent pleural fluid and shortness of breath. Low pleural fluid pH can be used as a marker for increased metabolic activity of tumors in intrapleura, and is associated with increasing tumor, and can predict the failure of pleurodesis. The purpose of this study was to prove association between low pleural fluid pH value with failure pleurodesis in patients pleural effusion malignancy. Method: This is an observational study with cross sectional design that is the analysis conducted at Hospital Dr Soetomo in patients pleural effusion malignancy were subjected to pleurodesis for 6 months. Total 11 patients who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Result: The mean value obtained pleural fluid pH 7,3±0,2, based on logistic regression analysis obtained low pleural fluid pH is not significant association with failure of pleurodesis, as shown from the significant value generated wald test is 0,116 where the value is above 0,05. Conclusion: Low pleural fluid pH is not significant association with failure of pleurodesis.


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