ABSTRACT
Objective The paper discussed the clinical value of differential diagnosis of pleural effusion by combined examination of exfoliative cytology and tumor markers,such as Carcinoembryonic-antigen(CEA),Carbohydrate-antigen1 9-9 (CA1 9-9),Cytoker-antin-1 9-fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1)and carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125).Methods A total of 21 6 patients with pleural effu-sion were divided into malignant group containing 1 96 patients and benign group consisting of remaining patients.Aside from the conventional exfoliative cytology examination,by electrochemical luminescence immunoassay technology,the contents of tumor markers of CEA,CA1 9-9,CYFRA21-1,CA125 in the pleural effusion were measured.Finally,the data were statistically analyzed. Results In malignant group,the positive rate of exfoliative cytologic examination was 82.7%,in which adenocarcinoma accounted for 87.7%.The tumor markers in malignant group was significantly higher than that of benign group.The difference was statisti-cally significant (P < 0.05 ).The sensitivity of CEA is 52.0%,CA1 9-9 48.5%,CA125 41.9%,and the four tumor markers is 74.5%,respectively.For the combined examination of exfoliative cytology and tumor marke,the sensitivity is 96.4%,and specifici-ty is 80%,accuracy is 96.8%.Conclusion The exfoliative cytologic examination is one of the best ways to diagnose malignant pleu-ral effusion.The tumor marker detection is a useful auxiliary method for correct diagnosis and treatment.The sensitivity and accura-cy of the diagnosis of benign and malignant pleural effusion can be improved by the exfoliative cytologic examination combined with tumor marker detection.