Ascites, being an accumulation of excess fluid within the peritoneal cavity, is most frequently encountered in patients with cirrhosis or certain other diseases such as congestive cardiac failure, peritoneal tuberculosis and some primary or secondary peritoneal tumours. This study included 17 patients (5 females, 12 males) with malignant ascites (MA) and 23 patients (13 females, 10 males) with nonmalignant ascites (NMA). We aimed to determinet the values for total sialic acid (SA), pH, cholesterol, fibronectin, total protein concentrations and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in ascitic fluid for the differential diagnosis of ascites. While total SA, fibronectin, cholesterol, LDH and total protein values in MA cases were found to be higher (p

Ascites, being an accumulation of excess fluid within the peritoneal cavity, is most frequently encountered in patients with cirrhosis or certain other diseases such as congestive cardiac failure, peritoneal tuberculosis and some primary or secondary peritoneal tumours. This study included 17 patients (5 females, 12 males) with malignant ascites (MA) and 23 patients (13 females, 10 males) with nonmalignant ascites (NMA). We aimed to determinet the values for total sialic acid (SA), pH, cholesterol, fibronectin, total protein concentrations and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in ascitic fluid for the differential diagnosis of ascites. While total SA, fibronectin, cholesterol, LDH and total protein values in MA cases were found to be higher (p