关键词: 胸腔积液, 鉴别诊断, 分子生物学检测技术, 生物标记物

Abstract:

Pleural effusion is one of the most common complications during the progression of some diseases，and its mobidity has been increasing for the past few years. Etiology of pleural effusion is diverse. Laboratory examinations of pleural fluid include routine，cytology,biochemistry，immunology and microbiology examination. Infecton is the major cause of pleural effusion in children. As a result，there are many molecular microbiological detection techniques for infectious pleural effusion in recent years，e.g，polymerase chain reaction，nucleic acid amplification technique. Novel biomarkers have also emerged，including procalcitonin，C reactive protein，pentraxin-3 and aromatic amino acid，et al，which can be used to distinguish parapneumonic effusion，tuberculous pleural effusion or malignant pleural effusion. Routine laboratory examinations and these novel technologies or biomarkers need to be appropriately evaluated and compared，hoping that with those indicators clinicians could  benefit in the early etiological diagnosis，and the appropriate therapeutic approaches to prevent deterioration and improve prognosis.

Key words: pleural effusion, differential diagnosis, molecular biological detection technology, biomarker