Abstract

Establishment of aetiology of pleural effusion is difficult even with all available facilities. In 20% cases of pleural effusion the etiologic diagnosis cannot be made. In those cases the differential leucocyte count of pleural fluid is helpful. Therefore the present study is undertaken with the aim to do the differential leucocyte count of pleural fluid and to see its diagnostics help.100 patients from the Pulmonary Medicine Department of a referral centre of Odisha are taken as study group. Out of them 50 patients were suffering from tuberculosis, 30 patients were suffering from malignancy and rest 20% were suffering from other chest diseases. 10 ml of pleural fluid was collected in a test tube with anticoagulant from these patients for differential leucocyte count. The fluid was centrifuged and a smear was done. The smear was stained with Leishman’s stain and differential count was done. The observed value was compared with the standard value. In 70% of cases with +ve AFB and radiological findings there was >85% increase of the lymphocytes. In 30% of cases with –ve AFB and radiological findings there was >50% increase in lymphocytes. There was also an increase in neutrophils in exudate fluids indicating active inflammation. It was concluded in our study that the differential leucocyte count of pleural fluid is an important investigation which provide more insight to etiology mainly for tuberculosis and malignancy.

Keywords: Pleural fluid, Leucocytes, Differential Count