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Biomedical subjects

José Manuel Porcel

Publications and source records attributed to José Manuel Porcel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Rapid pleurodesis with doxycycline through a small-bore catheter for the treatment of metastatic malignant effusions.

GOALS OF WORK: The goal of the study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of bedside pleurodesis with doxycycline using a short-term indwelling chest catheter for the palliative treatment of malignant effusions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study of 36 rapid pleurodesis procedures in 34 patients with malignant pleural effusions was conducted over a 5-year period in a university hospital. A 12F chest catheter placement was facilitated utilizing the Seldinger percutaneous entry technique. Patients received 500 mg of intrapleural doxycycline combined in half of the cases with mepivacaine. We assessed success or failure of pleurodesis in addition to the frequency of complications and survival. MAIN RESULTS: Chest tubes were removed within 24 h in 69% and within 48 h in 94% of the patients. Complete success of pleurodesis was achieved in 17 (55%), partial success in eight (26%), and failure in six (19%) out of 31 evaluative procedures. Thus, the overall success rate of pleurodesis was 81%. Toxicity was mild and included pain (36%), fever (8%), and pneumothorax (6%). The median survival was 105 days. There was no relationship between instillation of intrapleural anesthetics and development of pain. CONCLUSIONS: Rapid pleurodesis with doxycycline, which can be accomplished within 24 to 48 h, is a valid option for the symptomatic treatment of malignant effusions. This technique can be used as a first-line procedure in the majority of cases, particularly if thoracoscopic facilities are not available.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Usefulness of the British Thoracic Society and the American College of Chest Physicians guidelines in predicting pleural drainage of non-purulent parapneumonic effusions.

AIM: To assess the value of the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) guidelines to predict which patients with non-purulent parapneumonic effusions (PPE) warrant chest tube drainage. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was performed on all patients who underwent thoracentesis because of a PPE over a 10-year period at a Spanish medical center. Classification of PPE as complicated (CPPE) or uncomplicated (UPPE) was based on the clinician's decision to insert a chest tube to resolve the effusion. Empyema was defined as pus in the pleural space. Data collected included patient demographics, size of the effusion, and microbiological and pleural fluid chemistries that might influence the physician's decision to place a chest tube. RESULTS: Of the 240 patients with PPE who entered the study, 85 had UPPE, 67 had CPPE, and 88 had empyema. Individual pleural fluid parameters, namely a pH<7.20, a glucose<40 mg/dL or <60 mg/dL, a LDH>1000 U/L or a positive culture had a relatively high specificity (from 78% for LDH to 94% for glucose<40 mg/dL), but low to moderate sensitivity (from 25% for culture to 73% for LDH) in predicting the need for chest tube placement in non-purulent PPE. While pleural fluid cultures performed poorly in discriminating UPPE from CPPE (likelihood ratio positive 1.7), effusion's size performed the best (likelihood ratio positive 5.7). BTS and ACCP guidelines yielded measures of sensitivity (98% and 97%, respectively), and negative likelihood ratio (0.03 and 0.05, respectively) for identifying a CPPE. CONCLUSIONS: Both guidelines have similar accuracy and perform satisfactorily in distinguishing CPPE from UPPE, albeit at an admissible cost of needlessly increasing chest tube drainage.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Soluble oncoprotein 185HER-2 in pleural fluid has limited usefulness for the diagnostic evaluation of malignant effusions.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether pleural levels of the soluble oncoprotein 185 HER-2 (sp185(HER-2)), individually or in combination with CEA and CA 15-3, were useful for the diagnosis of malignant effusions. DESIGN AND METHODS: Levels of CEA, CA 15-3, and sp185(HER-2) were measured in the pleural fluid from 135 malignant and 103 benign effusions. Thresholds of these tumor markers were chosen for a diagnostic specificity of >or=99%. RESULTS: Pleural sp185(HER-2) levels greater than 25 ng/mL were observed in 20% of breast and 10% of lung adenocarcinomas, and predicted a malignant effusion with a sensitivity of 7% and a likelihood ratio of 7.6. Combination of CEA and CA 15-3 resulted in 50% sensitivity, while adding sp185(HER-2) to this panel nonsignificantly increased sensitivity by 5% (P = 0.45). Only 1 patient with breast adenocarcinoma among 45 cytology-negative malignant effusions had sp185(HER-2) above the diagnostic cutoff point. CONCLUSION: Measurement of pleural fluid sp185(HER-2) has poor diagnostic performance in patients with malignant effusions.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2005

The use of probrain natriuretic peptide in pleural fluid for the diagnosis of pleural effusions resulting from heart failure.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Natriuretic peptides are secreted by the myocardium in response to mechanical stretch and have been proposed as a possible test for assisting the diagnosis of heart failure. This article reviews the rationale for measuring N terminal probrain natriuretic peptide in pleural fluid to identify heart failure as the cause of a pleural effusion. RECENT FINDINGS: Rapid and accurate testing of natriuretic peptides as biomarkers for heart failure is now a clinical reality. In patients presenting with dyspnea, heart failure is usually absent at blood brain natriuretic peptide levels less than 100 pg/mL, possible from 100 to 500 pg/mL, and probable at levels greater than 500 pg/mL. In evaluating natriuretic peptide assays, one needs to consider carefully laboratory and biologic variation, including gender, sex, obesity, renal function, and the assay used. Potential future applications of natriuretic peptide testing include the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. A recent study has shown good diagnostic characteristics in cardiac pleural effusions, with likelihood ratios of 13 and a diagnostic accuracy of more than 90% for pleural fluid N terminal probrain natriuretic peptide levels > or =1500 pg/mL. Specifically, N terminal probrain natriuretic peptide pleural levels correctly categorized most cardiac effusions misclassified as exudates by standard criteria, and discriminated between cardiac and hepatic transudates. SUMMARY: Pleural fluid N terminal probrain natriuretic peptide may help accurately differentiate cardiac from noncardiac conditions in patients presenting with pleural effusion.

Heart Failure↗
PubMed2004

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha in pleural fluid: a marker of complicated parapneumonic effusions.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether pleural fluid tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha is a more accurate parameter to identify nonpurulent complicated parapneumonic effusion (CPPE) than the classical chemistries, namely pH, glucose, or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). METHODS: We studied 80 consecutive patients with parapneumonic effusions (35 with uncomplicated parapneumonic effusion [UPPE], 23 with nonpurulent CPPE, and 22 with empyema). Concentrations of standard biochemical parameters together with TNF-alpha were measured in pleural fluid, the latter by using an immunoenzymometric assay. RESULTS: Pleural TNF-alpha was significantly higher in CPPE (133.0 pg/mL) and empyema (142.2 pg/mL) than in UPPE (39.1 pg/mL). A cut-off value of 80 pg/mL for pleural TNF-alpha resulted in a sensitivity, specificity, and area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 78%, 89%, and 0.87, respectively, for the diagnosis of nonpurulent CPPE. A multivariate analysis selected both pleural TNF-alpha > or = 80 pg/mL and LDH > or = 1,000 U/L (sensitivity, 74%; AUC = 0.86), but excluded pleural glucose < or = 60 mg/dL (sensitivity, 39%; AUC = 0.82) and pH < or = 7.20 (sensitivity, 41%; AUC = 0.78), for identifying the need for drainage. The combined sensitivity of pleural fluid TNF-alpha and LDH was found to be 91%. CONCLUSIONS: Pleural TNF-alpha may contribute to the identification of patients with nonpurulent CPPE with at least the same diagnostic accuracy, if not better, than the use of pH, glucose, or LDH.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Use of a panel of tumor markers (carcinoembryonic antigen, cancer antigen 125, carbohydrate antigen 15-3, and cytokeratin 19 fragments) in pleural fluid for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant effusions.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The diagnostic value of tumor markers in pleural fluid is subject to debate. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of several tumor markers in common use for detecting malignant pleural disease. DESIGN: Blinded comparison of four tumor markers in pleural fluid with a confirmatory diagnosis of malignancy by pleural cytology or thoracoscopic biopsy. SETTING: Two teaching hospitals in Spain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 416 patients (166 with definite malignant effusions, 77 with probable malignant effusions, and 173 with benign effusions) were enrolled. Among them, there were 42 patients recruited from one of the participant centers with thoracoscopic facilities, who had false-negative fluid cytology findings and malignancy confirmed by medical thoracoscopy. Tumor markers in pleural fluid were determined either by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA], carbohydrate antigen 15-3 [CA 15-3], cytokeratin 19 fragments [CYFRA 21-1]) or microparticle enzyme immunoassay (cancer antigen 125 [CA 125]) technologies. Cutoff points that yielded 100% specificity (ie, all patients with benign effusions had levels below this cutoff) were selected for each marker. RESULTS: Malignant pleural effusions (PEs) had higher levels of pleural fluid markers than did effusions due to benign conditions. At 100% specificity, a pleural CEA > 50 ng/mL, CA 125 > 2,800 U/mL, CA 15-3 > 75 U/mL, and CYFRA 21-1 > 175 ng/mL had 29%, 17%, 30%, and 22% overall sensitivities, respectively. The combination of the four tumor markers reached 54% sensitivity, whereas the combined use of the cytology and the tumor marker panel increased the diagnostic yield of the former by 18% (95% confidence interval, 13 to 23%). More than one third of cytology-negative malignant PEs could be identified by at least one marker of the panel. CONCLUSIONS: No single pleural fluid marker seems to be accurate enough as to be introduced in the routine workup of PE diagnosis. However, a tumor marker panel may represent a helpful adjunct to cytology in order to rule in malignancy as a probable diagnosis, thus guiding the selection of patients who might benefit from further invasive procedures.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Etiology and pleural fluid characteristics of large and massive effusions.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To report the etiology of large and massive pleural effusions, and to compare their biochemical fluid characteristics with those of smaller size, and between malignant and nonmalignant conditions. DESIGN: Retrospective chart review of all patients undergoing thoracentesis at an academic medical center in Lleida, Spain, during a 10-year period. PATIENTS: Posteroanterior chest radiographs were available in 766 patients during the study period. Large pleural effusions (ie, two thirds or more of the hemithorax without its complete obliteration) were identified in 70 patients (9%), and massive pleural effusions (ie, hemithorax was completely opacified) were identified in 93 patients (12%). RESULTS: A similar etiologic spectrum between large and massive pleural effusions was observed. The most frequent cause of these pleural effusions was malignancy (89 patients; 55%), followed by complicated parapneumonic or empyema (36 patients; 22%), and tuberculosis (19 patients; 12%). Compared with nonmalignant pleural effusions, patients with large or massive malignant pleural effusions were more likely to have pleural fluids with higher RBC counts (18.0 x 10(9) cells/L vs 2.7 x 10(9) cells/L, respectively; p < 0.001) and lower adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity (11.5 vs 31.5 U/L, respectively; p < 0.001), which were the two parameters that were selected by a stepwise logistic-regression model as independent predictors of malignancy. In addition, large/massive malignant pleural effusions showed higher median RBC counts (18.0 x 10(9) cells/L vs 4.3 x 10(9) cells/L, respectively; p < 0.001), higher lactate dehydrogenase levels (641 vs 409 U/L, respectively; p = 0.001), lower pH (7.39 vs 7.42, respectively; p = 0.006) content, but similar cytologic yield (63% vs 53%, respectively; p = 0.171) than smaller malignant pleural effusions. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a large or massive pleural effusion enables the clinician to narrow the differential diagnosis of pleurisy, since most effusions are secondary to malignancy or infections (either bacterial or mycobacterial). Bloody pleural fluid with low ADA content favors a malignant condition.

Adenosine Deaminase↗
PubMed2003

Differentiating tuberculous from malignant pleural effusions: a scoring model.

BACKGROUND: Patients with tuberculous or malignant pleural effusions frequently have similar clinical manifestations and pleural fluid profile. The aim of our study was to derive a simple clinical score for differential diagnosis of these two clinical entities. MATERIAL/METHODS: Our retrospective study involved 106 patients with tuberculous pleurisy and 286 with malignant effusions, seen during a 9-year period. Clinical and laboratory variables with (model 1) and without (model 2) the addition of pleural adenosine deaminase entered into a multivariate analysis to calculate a scoring system (range 0 to 10) for the detection of tuberculous effusions. RESULTS: In model 1, four variables predicted a tuberculous etiology: adenosine deaminase > or = 40 U/L (5 points), age <35 years (2), temperature > or 37.8 degrees C (2), and pleural fluid red blood cell count < 5 x 10(9)/L (1). In addition to the last three items, model 2 identified other predictive parameters: no history of malignancy (3), pleural protein > or = 50 g/L (1), and pleural fluid to serum lactate dehydrogenase ratio > or 2.2 (1). Summated scores of > or 5 in model 1 and > or 6 in model 2 yielded measures of sensitivity (95% and 97%), and specificity (94% and 91%) for discriminating tuberculous from malignant effusions, respectively. The area under the ROC curve for models 1 and 2 was 0.987 and 0.982, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of clinical data and pleural fluid chemistry profile into a score-based model can facilitate differential diagnosis between tuberculous and malignant effusions.

Adenosine Deaminase↗