RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Indicator that can predict pleural thickening in pleural tuberculosis has not been known clearly. By the previous study, patients with pleural thickening > or =10 mm had significantly lower glucose and pH values and higher lysozyme and TNF-alpha values than those with pleural thickening or =10 mm and 12 patient (54.5%) had pleural thickening > or =3 mm. Initial pleural fluid protein, LDH, pH, glucose and IFN-gamma, Interleukin-1alpha (IL-1alpha) were studied. RESULTS: Pleural fluid levels of protein, LDH, glucose, and IFN-gamma were not statistically significant different not only between the group of pleural thickening > or =3 mm and the group of pleural thickening or =10 mm and the group of pleural thickening or =3 mm (85.9+/- 37.1 U/mL) was significantly higher than without thickening (44.8+/-32.0 U/mL) (p or =10 mm (106.9+/-8.6 U/mL) was significantly higher than without thickening (58.5+/-8.6 U/mL)(p< 0.001). CONCLUSION: Although patient number of our study was smaller than the previous study, IFN-gamma level in initial pleural fluid of pleural tuberculosis may be considered as the predictive factor of pleural thickening.