title: [Clinical significance of (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan in pleural effusion and liquor].
abstract: The Measurement of serum (1-->3)-beta-D-glucan (beta-glucan) has been considered to be useful in the early diagnosis of deep mycosis. In this study, we investigated the clinical significance of beta-glucan in pleural effusion or liquor from patients with various conditions. beta-glucan was measured in 29 samples of pleural effusion from 27 patients (male: 17, female: 10 median age: 62.1). Two patients undergoing hemodialysis treatment were excluded from the study of normal range of beta-glucan in these samples. beta-glucan was also measured in 39 samples of liquor from 23 inpatients (male: 15, female: 8 median age: 48.4) with certain neurological disorders. In these cases, only two patients had deep mycosis. beta-glucan in the pleural effusion from a patient with Aspergillus pyothorax showed an extremely high value of more than 1100 pg/ml. Slight elevation of beta-glucan was observed in the spinal fluid from a patient with cryptococal, meningitis. In the other cases with no mycotic infection or any factor influencing the value of beta-glucan, beta-glucan in pleural effusion and spinal fluid were generally lower than the normal range of serum samples. However, there is false positive elevation of beta-glucan in pleural effusion. The above results indicated that measurement of beta-glucan in pleural effusion or spinal fluid may be useful for the diagnosis of mycotic infection as the cause of pleuritis or meningitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kawasaki Medical School, Kurashiki Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashiguchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsushima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005936:Glucans / Q000032:analysis* / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009181:Mycoses / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000737:chemistry*; D047071:beta-Glucans
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005936:Glucans; D047071:beta-Glucans; C033363:beta-1,3-glucan