title: Cytopathologic analysis of pericardial effusions in 116 cases: Implications for poor prognosis in lung cancer patients with positive interpretations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have evaluated the cytology of pericardial effusions. The aim of this study is to investigate the etiologies of pericardial effusions and to establish the relationship between cytopathologic interpretations and outcome patterns among patients with pericardial effusions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 116 patients with pericardial effusions at a single institution over a 4-year period and carefully analyzed all available clinical documents, including clinical diagnoses, cytopathologic findings, and outcome patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cohort was made up of 74 patients with malignancies, 39 with non-malignancy diseases, and 3 without available clinical diagnosis. Lung cancer was the most common malignancy (58 cases), followed by breast cancer (4 cases) and lymphoma/leukemia (4 cases). Among the 116 fluid samples, 43 cases were diagnosed as malignant, 66 were diagnosed as benign, and seven were diagnosed as ambiguous. The nature of the hemorrhage was an important feature of cytopathology-positive effusions. Patients with detectable malignant cells in pericardial effusions have a significantly poorer prognosis than those without malignant cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lung cancer is the most common cause of large quantities of pericardial effusions. The present findings suggest that cytopathologic evaluation is valuable to predict the prognosis of cancer patients with pericardial effusions. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:287-293. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medicine, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China.|Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266003, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266003, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266003, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266003, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Jun
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266003, China.
authors.forename: Ji-Gang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1909-0232
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cytopathology; lung cancer; pericardial effusion; prognosis