BACKGROUND:
Light’s criteria is the routinely used criteria to differentiate exudative and transudative pleural effusion. It requires four biochemical parameters for estimation which may not be feasible in developing countries like India, due to economic constraints.
AIM OF THE STUDY:
To evaluate usefulness of pleural fluid cholesterol and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in differentiating exudates and transudate and comparing it with light’s criteria.
Study design:
Cross Sectional study.
Setting:
Government Royapettah Hospital, Chennai.
Study population:
Patients admitted in medical wards and diagnosed to have pleural effusion clinically and radiologically.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
A total of 50 patients were studied from January 2015 to august 2015.The data obtained from patients were collected, analysed and observations noted down.
Statistical analysis: Sensitivity, specificity, Positive predictive value, Negative predictive value of pleural fluid cholesterol and LDH test is compared and analysed with Light’s criteria using SPSS 20 software.
RESULTS:
In this study 40 patients are exudates and 10 are transudates. Using a cut off value of over 45mg/dl for cholesterol and over 200IU/L for LDH to differentiate exudates from transudate, pleural fluid cholesterol and LDH test showed 95% sensitivity and 80% specificity, with significant measure of agreement with Light’s criteria.
CONCLUSION:
The measurement of pleural fluid cholesterol and LDH is as useful as Light’s criteria to differentiate exudates and transudate, with advantage of requiring only two laboratory parameters and no simultaneous blood sample especially in India, where economic and technical constraints are immense
