[Results of bronchoscopy studies in patients with pleural effusion]

The authors investigated in a group of 141 patients included in a study of pleural exudates at the Second Clinic for TB and Respiratory Diseases, Medical Faculty, Charles University Prague, endoscopic findings in correlation with the basic diagnosis and type of exudate. The group comprised 45 women and 96 men, mean age 52 and 54 years resp. 60.3% of the group suffered from neoplastic disease, most frequently bronchogenic carcinoma which was recorded in 56 of the patients. 114 patients were subjected to bronchoscopy, a tumour was detected by this examination in 33%, inflammatory changes in 19%, stenosis of the segments in 9% and merely dilated carinae in 3% of the subjects with pleural exudates who were subjected to bronchoscopy. The authors verified during bronchoscopy by cytological or histological examination 79% bronchogenic carcinomas, 35% other tumours. Bronchoscopy was the decisive examination; due to it the type of exudate was determined in 17 patients, i. c. 12%. In patients with other than neoplastic disease the endoscopic finding supported the basic diagnosis in 30% of the examined subjects, but did not assess the type of exudate in any of the patients. Bronchoscopy revealed pathological changes in 16 patients (11% of the group) where the skiagram of the chest indicated only changes suggesting a pleural exudate. Fifteen of them suffered from neoplastic disease, one from TB of the intrathoracic nodes. The authors conclude that the importance of bronchoscopic examination in patients with pleural exudates is increasing due to the changed spectrum of basic diagnoses and that it should be made in all patients with an obscure pleural exudate.