Significance of combined assays of tumor marker CEA and TSGF for differential diagnosis of pleural effusion

Objective:To study the clinical significance of tumor markers combined assay in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. Methods:165 serum and hydrothorax samples were collected from 165 inpatients with pleural effusion. Among them,55 patients were suffered with malignant pleural effusion,and 110 patients with benign pleural effusion. The concentration of carcino-embryonic antigen(CEA) ,and tumor specific growth factor(TSGF) were determined by chemiluminescence assay. Results:In malignant pleural effusion group,the positive rates of serum CEA and TSGF were 58.82% and 54.29% respectively,the positive rates of hydrothorax CEA and TSGF were 75.76% and 70.67% respectively. Among them,CEA and TSGF in malignant group were significantly higher than those in benign pleural effusion group(P0.01) . The content detection also showed similar results. The sensitivity of combined assay with serum TSGF in diagnosing malignant pleural effusion was 85.71%,with the specificity of 97.80%. Conclusion:Tumor markers of CEA and TSGF have high clinical values in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. The combined assay with TSGF is recommended.