[Improvement of ultrasound study in the diagnosis of pleurisies of various etiologies].

The study was undertaken to improve ultrasonography using needle biopsy under ultrasound control in the diagnosis of pleurisies of various etiologies. The patients of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, who had been divided by the nosological principle (nonspecific pleurisy, tuberculosis effusions, and tumorous and posttraumatic pleurisies), were followed up. The study and statistical processing yielded major ultrasound criteria for pleural effusions and a final diagnosis was made on the basis of needle biopsy under ultrasound control with subsequent morphological verification.