Background: The current study decided to assess CT scan findings in patients with any kind of pleural effusion to obtain any diagnostic value of this modality of imaging to discriminate malignant conditions from benign ones, especially pleural or pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods: Through a cross-sectional design, patients with pleural effusion enrolled in this study when their diagnosis was known as malignancy or tuberculosis. The findings of chest CT-scan were compared between the two conditions and the frequency and statistically different variables were reported as discriminating factors between malignancy and tuberculosis. Results: Among our findings, male sex was prone to tuberculosis, but pleural thickening >10 mm, lung collapse and lung mass in CT-scan, were the most prevalent findings in malignancy and absent in tuberculosis cases. No significant differences were observed in the free or loculated effusion, air-fluid level and gas, Hounsfield score and loculation involvement between groups. Conclusion: CT scan, despite its unconfirmed diagnostic values, could be considered as a very useful part of diagnosing malignancies against benign or infective causes of pleural effusion, especially in terms of pleural thickening more than 10 mm, lung collapse and lung mass disregarding transudative or exudative as well as uni- or bilateral, free or loculated, mild or severe, or other kinds. CT scan scoring system may be the next topic to work on by authors.

Introduction: The use of epinephrine for controlling the blood loss has gained out in many dermatological surgeries; however, its use in liposuction has not been studied. In this regard, we aimed to figure out the effectiveness of using epinephrine in tumescent solution during liposuctions surgery. Material and Methods: In this study we present a prospective, double-blind, nonrandomized study evaluating the effects of adding epinephrine to tumescent solution intra-operative in patients undergoing liposuction. Thirty-six patients including 6 males and 29 females undergoing liposuction were divided into two groups. In case group we use 1-1.4 mg/L epinephrine (based on the location of surgery) in tumescent solution; and control group did not receive epinephrine. Lab data such as hemoglobin and hematocrit as well as clinical data including blood pressure and heart rate were recorded before, after 1h and 6h of liposuction.  Results: In this study, we observed that both case and control group faced a significant dropped in their hemoglobin and hematocrit; however, the decrement was significant lower in case group. In addition, both groups had a stable hemostasis after 1h and 6h of surgery. In this regard, we did not observe any significant difference between heart rate and blood pressure of two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that using epinephrine as vasoconstriction agent in tumescent solution might decrease the rate of bleeding and increase the chance of stable hemostasis both during and after abdominal liposuction.