Needle Biopsy of the Parietal Pleura

Abstract

CLINICAL analysis and the application of traditional laboratory methods¹ usually enable a clinician to determine the cause of an "idiopathic pleural effusion," but considerable time may elapse before a diagnosis is definitely established. It has become a matter of good practice initially to consider such an effusion in a young person as a manifestation of tuberculosis, and in older patients as a sign of pleural involvement by neoplastic disease, and then to defer definite diagnosis until further observation has confirmed or invalidated these initial impressions. As far as tuberculosis is concerned, this practice appears to be justified by the fact . . .