[Etiology of pleural effusion based on material from the Hospital of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis].

The aim of this study was to show the influence of the changes in incidence of tuberculosis and lung cancer on the etiology of pleural effusion among the patients of the Hospital of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis. To this end 349 patients with pleural effusion were separated from the total number of 9786 patients treated in years 1990-1999. The most numerous group--180 patients (51.58%)--consisted of the cases of malignant neoplasms, 109 (31.25%)--tuberculosis and 60 (17.17%)--remaining diseases altogether. At the time, the statistically significant increase of the whole number of patients with pleural effusion as well as the increase of patients with pleural effusion caused by malignant tumors were recorded. It was shown that the increasing incidence of lung cancer in Silesia at that time caused the change of the profile of the Hospital of Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis.