Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Clinical Features And Management Of Malignant Ascites, I Malik, S Abubakar, I Rizwana, F Alam, J Rizvi, A Khan

Section of Cardiology

Retrospective analysis of 45 patients (33 females, 12 males) with cytologically-proven malignant ascites is presented. Abdominal pain was the most frequent symptom (69%). Fiftythree percent cases had low serum albumin. Ascitic fluid was haemorrhagic or serosanguinous in 48% cases, in the rest it was clear or straw-coloured. Peritoneal effusion was exudative in 84% cases. Mean glucose content of ascitic fluid was 95 mg/dl and the mean white cell count of 919 cells/cmm. Vast majority (82%) of the cases had metastatic adenocarcinomas. Primary malignancy was mostly ovarian (47%) followed by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (11%) and gall bladder carcinoma (9%). Primary site could …