Analysis on clinical diagnosis value of pleural biopsy combined with CEA, cytology in unexplained pleural effusion

Objective To explore the clinical diagnostic value of pleural biopsy combined with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA),cytology on patients with unexplained pleural effusion.Methods 176 patients with unexplained pleural effusion were divided into two groups by diagnostic results:malignant pleural effusion group (malignant group,n =79) and tuberculous pleural effusion group (tuberculous group,n =67).The serum CEA,pleural effusion CEA,pleural fluid CEA/serum CEA,and cytology were compared between the two groups.Results ① The serum CEA,pleural effusion CEA,pleural fluid CEA/serum CEA in the malignant group were significantly higher than those in the tuberculous group (P ＜0.05).②The sensitivity and specificity of cytology were 87.34％ and 100.00％,they were 17.72％ and 49.25％ by CEA of pleural effusion,they were 58.23％ and 76.12％ by CEA in peripheral blood,they were 77.22％ and 83.58％ by pleural fluid CEA/blood CEA.There was statistical significance on the sensitivity and specificity among different methods (P ＜0.05).The sensitivity and specificity of cytology were the highest,following by pleural fluid CEA/blood CEA,those of blood CEA were the lowest.Conclusions Pleural biopsy combined with CEA,cytology can effectively check the cause of unexplained pleural effusion,and help to identify benign and malignant pleural effusion,worthy of clinical application. Key words: Pleural effusion ;  Pleural biopsy;  Cytology ;  Carcinoembryonic antigen