A. Depablo et al., ARE PLEURAL FLUID PARAMETERS RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDUAL PLEURAL THICKENING IN TUBERCULOSIS, Chest, 112(5), 1997, pp. 1293-1297
Study objective: Identification of predictive factors for the developm
ent of residual pleural thickening (RPT). Design: Retrospective study.
Location: A 1,500-bed tertiary hospital. Patients: Patients with pleu
ral tuberculosis diagnosed between December 1991 and February 1995 in
our Respiratory Disease Service. Interventions: The clinical and radio
logic characteristics, and measurements of microbiological and biochem
ical parameters and markers in pleural fluid were studied. RPT was def
ined in a posteroanterior chest radiograph as a pleural space of >2 mm
measured in the lower lateral chest at the level of an imaginary line
intersecting the diaphragmatic dome. Measurements and results: In 56
patients studied, 11 (19.6%) had RPT 10 mm and 24 (42.8%) had RPT > 2
mm. The pleural fluid of patients with RPT 10 mm had a significantly l
ower glucose concentration and pH and higher lysozyme and tumor necros
is factor-or levels than the other patients. The pleural fluid of pati
ents with RPT >2 mm showed no significant differences. Conclusions: Th
e development of RPT 10 mm was related to higher concentrations of lys
ozyme and tumor necrosis factor-alpha and lower glucose concentration
and pH in pleural fluid compared with development of lower measurement
s of RPT.