RESUMEN
Objective: To detect the levels of B7-H4 protein, adenosine deaminase (ADA) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the malignant pleural effusion associated with lung cancer (LC-MPE) and tuberculous pleural effusion (TPK), and to evaluate the values of single and combined detection of B7-H4 protein, ADA and CEA in differential diagnosis of LC-MPE and TPK. Methods: A total of 202 samples of pleural effusion (PE) from 120 LC-MPE patients (LC-MPE group) and 82 TPE patients (TPE group) were collected. The levels of ADA and CEA and B7-H4 protein in PE were detected by the enzymatic, electrochemiluminescence and ELISA methods, respectively; and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC curve) was used to determine the diagnostic efficiencies of the above indexes alone or in combination, such as the sensitivity, the specificity, the Yoden index (YI)» and the area under ROC curve ( AUC). Results: The level of ADA in PE of the patients in TPE group was higher than that in LC-MPE group (P<0. 05); the levels of CEA and B7-H4 protein in PE of the patients in LC-MPE group were higher than those in TPE group ( P'-CO. 05). The ROC curve analysis results showed that the sensitivities of single detection of ADA, CEA and B7-H4 protein were 93.30%, 83.33% and 79.90%, respectively; the specificities were 86. 59%, 96.34% and 72. 50%, respectively; the AUC were 0. 927, 0. 925 and 0. 836, respectively. The combined detection of the three indexes had the highest diagnostic value; the sensitivity was 93. 90% , the specificity was 97. 50% , the YI was 0. 971, and the AUC was 0. 998. Conclusion: The combined detection of levels of ADA, CEA and B7-H4 protein in PE is superior to the single evaluation of each index, which can greatly improve the differential diagnosis efficiencies of LC-MPE and TPE.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE@#To study the clinical value of detecting carcinoembryonic antigen levels in pleural effusion (PCEA) and serum (SCEA) and their ratio (P/S) in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusions resulting from tuberculosis and lung cancer.@*METHODS@#This retrospectively study was conducted among 82 patients with pleural effusion caused by pulmonary tuberculous (TB; control group) and 120 patients with pleural effusion resulting from lung cancer in our hospital between April, 2016 and March, 2018. PCEA, SCEA and P/S were compared between the two groups and among the subgroups of lung cancer patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SqCa), adenocarcinoma (ACA), small cell carcinoma (SCLC). The receiveroperating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was used to confirm the optimal critical value to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of different combinations of PCEA, SCEA and P/S.@*RESULTS@#PCEA, SCEA and P/S were significantly higher in the overall cancer patients and in all the 3 subgroups of cancer patients than in the patients with TB ( < 0.05). The areas under the ROC curve of PCEA, SCEA and P/S were 0.925, 0.866 and 0.796, respectively; PCEA had the highest diagnostic value, whose diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, accurate rate, and diagnostic threshold were 83.33%, 96.34, 88.61%, and 3.26 ng/ml, respectively; SCEA had the lowest diagnostic performance; the diagnostic performance of P/S was between that of SCEA and PCEA, but its combination with SCEA greatly improved the diagnostic performance and reduced the rates of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. Parallel tests showed that the 3 indexes combined had significantly higher diagnostic sensitivity than each or any two of the single indexes ( < 0.05), but the diagnostic specificity did not differ significantly. The area under the ROC curve of combined detections of the 3 indexes was 0.941 for diagnosis of lung cancer-related pleural effusion, higher than those of any other combinations of the indexes.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The combined detection of PCEA, SCEA and P/S has a high sensitivity for diagnosis of lung cancer-related pleural effusion and provides important information for rapid and accurate diagnosis of suspected cases.