Tuberc Respir Dis.  1984 Mar;31(1):10-16. 10.4046/trd.1984.31.1.10.

Ferritin Assay in Pleural Effusion

• KMID: 2528784
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1984.31.1.10

Abstract

Ferritins are iron-containing proteins found in normal tissue; they increase in concentration in many tumor and the serum of tumor-bearing patients. Our study was undertaken to determine whether the measurement of ferritin in pleural effusion is useful in detecting malignancy. Ferritin level was determined in 22 beIi.ign pleural effusions and 16 malignant effusions by 2-site immunoradiometric assay. Malignant pleural effusions have significantly higher concentration of ferritin than benign pleural effusions. We took 1900ng/ml as cutoff value for detecting malignant effusion by comparison. of benign and malignant effusions. Eleven of 16 malignant effusions are above cut-off value(positive rate: 69%). The serum ferritin level of malignant effusion is increased above normal value significantly. With these data we suggest that determination of ferritin level in pleural effusion may be a useful tumor marker for detecting malignancy.