Evaluation of cholesterol and albumin gradient in the differentiation of pleural effusion.

Prospective comparison of pleural cholesterol and serum-pleural albumin gradient to Light’s traditional criteria were evaluated in 73 patients to differentiate exudative from transudative pleural effusions. The criteria of Light et al remain the most accurate method for distinguishing exudates from transudates even though misclassified 5 of 20 transudates (25%) to be exudates. All of those 5 patients can be correctly diagnosed to have transudative pleural effusions using either pleural cholesterol or serum-pleumin albumin gradient criteria.