HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Alegre, J. Articles by Fernández de Sevilla, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Alegre, J. Articles by Fernández de Sevilla, T.

Pleural-fluid myeloperoxidase in complicated and noncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusions

Depts of ¹ Internal Medicine, ² Biochemistry, ³ Microbiology, ⁴ Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Vall d'Hebron General Hospital, Barcelona, Spain

CORRESPONDENCE: J. Alegre, Juan de Garay 19, 3° 1a, 08041, Barcelona, Spain. Fax: 34 32844234. E-mail: 18502jam@comb.es

Keywords: myeloperoxidase, parapneumonic pleural effusions

Received: June 13, 2000
Accepted September 5, 2001

This work was financed in part by a Fondo de Investigacion Sanitaria grant (96/0977).

The diagnostic accuracy of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in pleural fluid, for differentiating between complicated and noncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusions (PPE) evaluated prospectively.

Seventy patients aged >18 yrs with PPE (36 complicated and 34 noncomplicated) were studied after admission to a tertiary referral teaching hospital. MPO concentration was measured in plasma and pleural fluid using a double-antibody competitive radioimmunoassay.

The concentrations of MPO in complicated and noncomplicated PPE were compared using a Mann-Whitney U-test and multiple logistic regression models were used to predict the odds that an effusion was complicated. MPO pleural-fluid concentrations were significantly higher in complicated than in noncomplicated PPE. After excluding purulent effusions, pleural-fluid MPO was the marker that best differentiated between the two types of PPE: the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.912, the sensitivity was 87.5% and the specificity was 85.1% at a cut-point limit of 3.000 µg·L^–1.

The authors concluded that the concentration of pleural-fluid myeloperoxidase helps to differentiate between nonpurulent complicated and noncomplicated parapneumonic pleural effusions.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. M. Porcel, M. Vives, and A. Esquerda Tumor Necrosis Factor-{alpha} in Pleural Fluid: A Marker of Complicated Parapneumonic Effusions Chest, January 1, 2004; 125(1): 160 - 164. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]