Role of pleural fluid cholesterol in differentiating transudative from exudative pleural effusion.
Article
in English
| IMSEAR
| ID: sea-119914
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Pleural fluid cholesterol has been reported to be useful in distinguishing between transudative and exudative pleural effusion. However, the difference in lipid profile between tubercular and non-tubercular pleural effusion has not been studied.METHODS:
The lipid profile of pleural fluid in 50 patients with exudative (25 tubercular and 25 non-tubercular) and 25 with transudative effusion was studied. The diagnosis was based on clinical criteria and/or a positive diagnosis from another site.RESULTS:
The criteria that best identified an exudative pleural effusion were pleural fluid cholesterol > or = 60 mg/dl, pleural fluid to serum cholesterol ratio > or = 0.4, pleural fluid triglyceride > or = 40 mg/dl and pleural fluid to serum triglyceride ratio > or = 0.3. Pleural fluid cholesterol had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 100% for exudates with an accuracy of 92%. Pleural fluid to serum cholesterol ratio had a sensitivity of 98% and a specificity of 84%. These results were superior to the criteria proposed by Light et al. (sensitivity 98% and specificity 80%).CONCLUSION:
Pleural fluid cholesterol estimation is an effective and cost-efficient method of differentiating exudative from transudative pleural effusion. The lipid profile does not help in diagnosing tubercular effusion.
Full text:
Available
Index:
IMSEAR (South-East Asia)
Main subject:
Pleural Effusion
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Cholesterol
/
Sensitivity and Specificity
/
Adult
/
Exudates and Transudates
/
Middle Aged
Type of study:
Diagnostic study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Year:
2003
Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS