Sohail Akhtar, Majeed Merron A.
Analysis of fluid in Tuberculous pleural effusions.
Pak J Chest Med Jan ;7(4):15-8.

Patients and methods: The study was retrospective. It was carried out by search of data available from out-patient records in specialist chest clinic. Consecutive 50 patients of tuberculous pleural effusion were selected. The basis of inclusion in this study was a positive pleural boipsy or TB culture or a satisfactory therapeutic response to ATT. Other concomitant diseases e.g. Uremia, bacterial pneumonia, malignancy, were excluded which can also give rise to exudative effusions. All patients completed at least 6 months of ATT and showed complete resolution of effusion. Results: Mean age of our patients was 32 years. Right sided effusion was as common as left sided. Appearance of fluid was straw colored in almost all cases. 2 cases had blood stained effusion. 8 cases had pleural protein value less than 3 gm/dl. The average pleural fluid protein was 4.2gm/dl with a wide range of between 0.346 and 6.9gm/dl. The range of white cell count was highly variable in our series, average between 3009/cumm. All cases had lymphocytosis of more than 80%. 20% cases had low sugar level. The range of LDH was between 300-3341 iu/l with an average of 998iu/l. All 17 cases, in which pleural fluid AFB smear was requested, was negative.

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