[Value of methods used in the etiological diagnosis of pleural exudates]

A study was carried out on 64 cases of pleural exsudates, i.e. 23 of neoplastic origin, 13 tuberculous, 10 with various etiologies and 8 the cause of which could not be determined. In all cases pleural biopsy puncture was performed, once or several times, the histologic examination confirming 80% of the cases of tuberculosis and 40% of the cancer cases. Biochemical methods are orientative, their significance increasing when the other probability tests give convergent results.