[Differential diagnosis of pleural effusions].

Pleural effusion is an important and common clinical finding. Pleural effusions can be readily obtained for analysis, and the examination of the cells therein is considered to be one of the most important diagnostic tools available for differentiating between malignant and non-malignant effusions. The present study was undertaken to test the diagnostic value of the determination of CEA in pleural fluid for a variety of diseases. Sixteen patients with pleural effusions were studied. Seven patients had carcinoma of the cervix, 7 of the ovary and 2 of the corpus. The positive rate of malignant cells was 81%. Among malignant effusions, only 44% of patients showed a CEA value above 10 mg/ml. This investigation suggests that cytological examination of pleural fluid is of considerable clinical significance for diagnosing the nature of pleural effusions, and effusion fluid CEA assay may provide a useful adjunct in the evaluation of effusion fluids for malignancy.