Medical thoracoscopy: a retrospective analysis in a tertiary care centre

Medical thoracoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure to visualize the entire pleural surface and perform limited diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. One of the main indications for medical thoracoscopy is to obtain a diagnosis in an exudative pleural effusion when other, simpler methods non-diagnostic. Medical thoracoscopy can also be used for therapeutic procedures. The present study is an effort to analyse our experience of medical thoracoscopy in patient of undiagnosed pleural effusion. Methods: 25 patients of pleural effusion in which diagnosis was not made by routine pleural fluid examination (biochemical/microbiological/cytological evaluation) were subjected to video thoracoscopy and biopsy, pleural fluid taken for pathological examination and therapeutic interventions such as adhesiolysis and pleurodesis were done. Intercostal drain kept. Results: Overall yield in the present study is 92% (23 out of 25). Majority of patients had malignant effusions (19 patients - 76%), of which 8 had metastatic adenocarcinoma and 7 had malignant mesothelioma. 2 patients (8%) were diagnosed to have tuberculous pleurisy. Present study had no incidence of thoracoscopic complications. Conclusions: We recommend that thoracoscopy shall be the Investigation of choice of undiagnosed pleural effusion as it has good yield with minimal complications.

Obstructive jaundice: a manifestation of pancreatic tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis of the pancreas is extremely rare and is most often associated with miliary tuberculosis or occurs in the immunocompromised patients. A case of isolated pancreatic tuberculosis in an immunocompetent patient is presented with constitutional symptoms and obstructive jaundice. Ultrasonography and computerised tomography showed a mass lesion in the head of pancreas. Histological examination of the peripancreatic lymph node and fine needle aspiration cytology from the head of pancreas confirmed the diagnosis following laparotomy. Patient recovered following the administration of antituberculosis chemotherapy.

Isolated tuberculous epididymo-orchitis.

Isolated epididymo-orchitis is an unusual presentation of tuberculosis. We report a case of bilateral epididymitis with right sided orchitis and scrotal involvement due to tuberculosis in a young male patient who had infertility. The diagnosis was suspected on ultrasonography of scrotum and confirmed by histological examination of scrotal and testicular tissue biopsy.