Ultrasonography in The Differential Diagnosis of Pleural Effusions

In this study, we investigated ultrasonographic findings of pleural effusion in 35 patients with ple-urisy as an aid to differential diagnosis. 25 of the patients were male amd 10 female. The mean age was 41 (range 18 tO 66). All the cases except one with transudate had pleural thickening. The mean thickness of pleura was 5 mm (range 3-11 mm) in cases with tuberculous effusion, 11 mm (range 6-19 mm) in cases with malignant effusion and 7mm (range 4-17 mm) in cases with pneumonic effusions. In cases with tuberculous effusion pleural thickening was diffuse and regular in 12 of 13 cases (%92). It was also determined mobile echogenic fibrils on the surface of pleura in 10 (%77) of the tuberculous ef-fusions. This study suggests that ultrasonography may he useful in the differential diagnosis of tu-berculous pleural effitsions.