ABSTRACT
This study was conducted on 50 patients [30 males and 20 females] with pleural effusion of different etiologies classified into five groups. The results obtained have shown that IL-8 was found in pleural fluid of all patients with the highest levels in empyema, then parapneumonic, tuberculous malignant and transudative effusion, respectively, while it was found in low levels in the blood of all patient and control groups with no significant differences between them. Comparison between IL-8 levels in exudative and transudative effusions has shown that it was significantly higher in exudative type. There was a significant positive correlation between pleural and serum IL-8 levels in transudative group only and it was significantly higher in infectious than in noninfectious effusions