A retrospective study of the usefulness of pleural effusion and blood indicators and ratios in detecting benign and malignant pleural effusion

This study aimed to identify effective biomarkers and ratios in serum and pleural fluid that can differentiate between benign and malignant pleural effusion. The authors found that pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase, total protein, adenosine deaminase, and glucose were significant indicators, with specific ratios showing high diagnostic efficiency. The identified ratios of pleural fluid total protein to serum adenosine deaminase and pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase to serum adenosine deaminase demonstrated promising sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing malignant pleural effusion.