Abstract
A significant concern of physicians treating patients with pleural effusion is to rule out a malignant etiology, which, in the majority of series, is the first cause of pleural exudates. Determination of tumor markers in serum and pleural fluid has been proposed as a nonaggressive means of establishing a diagnosis of pleural malignancy. Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is not a specific tumor marker and it is synthesized by normal and malignant cells of different origins. Recently, it has been shown that various diseases are associated with increased CA-125 levels, especially in the presence of serosal fluid. The aim of this study was to determine the level of serum and pleural fluid CA-125 to evaluate its value as a marker for differentiation between different types of pleural effusion. The study was carried out on 30 patients with pleural effusion of different etiologies. They were further subdivided into two groups: exudates and transudates; the levels of both serum and pleural fluid CA-125 were evaluated. In terms of pleural CA-125, there was a statistically significant increase in the exudative subgroup compared with transudative subgroup. Furthermore, it was found that malignant effusion was observed more frequently compared with benign effusion and tuberculosis was observed more frequently in comparison with other infections. The highest level of pleural fluid CA-125 was found in malignancy, followed by tuberculosis, and so pleural fluid CA-125 can be used as a marker for the diagnosis of pleural effusion. Egypt J Broncho 2015 9:283–286
Highlights
Undiagnosed pleural effusions are a major clinical problem; scientists spend considerable effort and time seeking a new parameter to aid the diagnosis of etiology of different types of pleural effusions [1]
Aim The aim of this study was to determine the level of serum and pleural fluid Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) to evaluate its value as a marker for differentiation between different types of pleural effusion
In terms of pleural CA-125, there was a statistically significant increase in the exudative subgroup compared with transudative subgroup
Summary
Undiagnosed pleural effusions are a major clinical problem; scientists spend considerable effort and time seeking a new parameter to aid the diagnosis of etiology of different types of pleural effusions [1]. The cause might be obvious, such as pleural effusions associated with congestive heart failure or liver cell failure. CA-125 is a 200 kDa glycoprotein that exists on the surface of ovarian and some inflammatory and noninflammatory cells. Proliferation of these cells causes this antigen to be released in the serum. It was found that tuberculosis in various sites of body causes an increase in serum antigen level [4]. Determination of tumor markers in serum and pleural fluid has been proposed as a nonaggressive means of establishing a diagnosis of pleural malignancy. Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is not a specific tumor marker and it is synthesized by normal and malignant cells of different origins. It has been shown that various diseases are associated with increased CA-125 levels, especially in the presence of serosal fluid
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