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Background: The most common primary malignant tumor of the pleura is malignant mesothelioma. It is a highly aggressive tumor that has become a very important issue over recent years. Evidence suggests that EGFR is involved in the pathogenesis and progression of different carcinomas.Aim of the work: To study the role of EGFR in MPM and to investigate its value for successful chemical pleurodesis.Patients and Methods: This study included 53 patients with exudative pleural effusion. All were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, CT chest, pleural biopsy histopathological analysis and EGFR Ab immunostaining. According to pleural biopsy histopathology, the patient population was divided into 3 subgroups; subgroup I (19 patients diagnosed benign pleural effusion); subgroup II (21 patients diagnosed MPM) and subgroup III (13 patients diagnosed malignant pleural effusion other than MPM).Results: Regarding comparison between the 3 subgroups in the demographic data, there was no statistically significant difference in age, sex and smoking prevalence. Regarding pleural fluid analysis, there was no statistically significant difference in protein and LDH levels but there was

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Objectives Pleural thickening is defined as the increase in thickness of the pleura of more than 3mm and can be caused by a wide range of diseases, either nonmalignant or malignant. Thoracic ultrasound has high sensitivity in assessing the pleura. Aim The aim of this study was to assess the role of thoracic ultrasound in differentiation of the causes of pleural thickening. Design A prospective study included 48 patients selected from the inpatient Chest Department, Kasr Al-Ainy Hospital, from January 2016 till October 2017. Patients diagnosed as having pleural thickening underwent thoracic ultrasound as well as ultrasound-guided pleural biopsy by Tru-cut needle. Descriptive data were obtained including age and sex of the patients. Thoracic ultrasound was done for the side of pleural thickening. The distribution of pleural thickness, either localized or diffuse; the surface; invasion of chest wall or diaphragm; the echogenicity and vascularity; and the presence of pleural effusion and its pattern were determined. The patients were classified into two main groups: nonmalignant (subclassified as tuberculous and nonspecific infection) and malignant cases (subclassified as mesothelioma and metastatic cases). Results There was a statistically significant relation between the distribution either localized, diffuse, unilateral, or bilateral; the surface of the thickness; invasion of chest wall or diaphragm; the echogenicity; vascularity of the pleural thickness; and the presence of pleural effusion and its pattern on one hand and the diagnosis of pleural thickening on the other hand. There was insignificant statistical difference between pleural mesothelioma and pleural metastatic cases, and also there was insignificant statistical difference between tuberculous and nonspecific infection cases. Conclusion The transthoracic ultrasound had a very good predilection for the diagnosis of pleural thickening etiology whether malignant or nonmalignant.