Study on the cellular morphism in tuberculous pleural effusion

ABSTRACT

A study of 284 patients with tuberculous pleural effusions cytologically diagnosed by smears stained with giemsa common method allowed distinguishing two groups typical and untypical patients. Typical tuberculous pleural effusions were characterized by the presence of lymphocytes, typical characterized by the presence of lymphocytes, typical Langhans and/or epithelioid cells, typical caseum and other products and a few number of neutrophils. Untypical tuberculous pleural effusions were marked by the preponderance of lymphocytes, the complete degeneration of neutrophil, the presence of macrophages, lipophages, untypical Langhans and epithelioid cells, and of minor but clear caseum and other degeneration elements, no common bacteria on smears. With these criteria, the true of cytodiagnosis in comparison with histophatology was 80%.