Ghulam Nabi Khokhar, Muhammad Ashfaq, Ikram Ullah Khan, Muhammad Ishaq, Israr Ahmed.
Validity of Pleural Fluid Protein in Differentiating Tuberculouse from Malignant Pleural Effusion.
Med Forum Jan ;3(1):62-5.

Objective: Validity of pleural fluid protein in differentiating tuberculouse from malignant pleural effusion keeping histopathology as gold standard. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration: This study was conducted in the Pulmonology department post graduate medical institute, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Pakistan from March 2009 to March 2010. Materials and Methods: One hundred and seventy nine patients having clinical suspicion of pulmonary tuberculouse and malignancy and fulfilling the inclusion criteria were subjected to Abrams needle biopsy, plural tissue was examined by histopathology. Biopsy in order to know the significant difference of pleural fluid protein level between tuberculous and malignant pleural effusion, histopathology finding and protein concentration were determined their frequency and percentage. Results: Among total number of 179 patients one hundred and fourteen (63.69%) were male and sixty five (36.32%) were female. The age limit from 15-80 years, the result shows that 60.9% were tuberculous and 39.9% were malignant pleuraleffusion, among these malignant 20 (11.2%) showed primary and 50 (27.9%) secondary malignancy. Tuberculous PE was more common in younger age group while malignant PE in older age group, 32 number of patients falling in category A, 59 in category B, and 88 in category C.A protein level in belonging to category C, there was statistically significant difference between tuberculous and malignant PE, tuberculous PE have high concentration of protein than malignant PE, The category “A” have malignant PE. Conclusion: Plural fluid total protein level determination and differentiating is a valuable tool in reaching to the diagnosis of suspectedtuberculouse from malignant pleural effusion provided it is used in addition to the adequate clinical scenario.

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