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Semin Respir Crit Care Med 2019; 40(03): 340-346
DOI: 10.1055/s-0039-1695702
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Molecular Testing on Pleural Fluid Samples

Scott Oh
1   Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Immunology, and Allergy, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
,
Reza Ronaghi
1   Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care Medicine, Clinical Immunology, and Allergy, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
,
Guoping Cai
2   Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
16 September 2019 (online)

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Abstract

Pleural effusions are a common manifestation of both malignant and nonmalignant diseases. The sampling of pleural fluid helps categorize effusions as transudative or exudative and helps differentiate paramalignant from malignant disease. Accurate pleural fluid analysis is critical to the appropriate staging of cancers with significant prognostic and treatment implications. However, the etiology of pleural effusions remains unclear in a significant number of cases after routine thoracentesis and pleural fluid analysis. For malignant pleural effusions, cytologic evaluation of pleural fluid has a relatively low sensitivity. We describe the evolving field of molecular pleural fluid analysis in the setting of malignant disease as an active area of investigation with both diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Keywords

malignant pleural effusion - molecular testing - pleural fluid analysis