Forty-eight cases of tuberculous pleurisy were examined and the following results wereobtained.
(1) Most of the patients were male, and there was no significant age and underlyingdiseases.
(2) Fever and chest pain were observed mainly in younger patients, and sputum anddyspnea in older patients.
(3) All of the cases examined had exudative pleural effusion, and increased ADA activitywas frequently observed.
(4) Mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected in the sputum of 65%, and also in thepleural effusion of 28% of the patients. The pathological diagnosis of tuberculosis wasmade by pleural biopsy in 83 % of the patients, suggesting that pleural biopsy is very usefulin the diagnosis of tuberculosis pleurisy.
(5) The prognosis of the patients with tuberculosis pleurisy was good. Steroid therapywas generally ineffective.
