[Differential diagnosis of pleurisy of tuberculous etiology].

A combined ++clinico-roentgenological+ examination of 367 patients with a pleurisy syndrome was aimed at the study of a potential establishment of the etiologic diagnosis of the disease. Examination comprised the routine tests and findings of various types of biopsy, including pleural biopsy performed within the first two months from disease onset. The etiologic diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy was most difficult in 96% of the patients who exhibited prolonged and stable maintenance of exudation or, on the contrary, very rapid regression of the pleural exudate without residual changes. Simultaneous morphologic and bacteriological examination of a pleural biopsy specimen contributed to the most efficacious and reliable diagnosis of tuberculous etiology of pleurisy.