A Study of Pleural Fluid Cholesterol in Differentiating Exudate and Transudate

Dr Karthikeyan G; Dr T.R.Radha; Dr Praveena Daya A

Volume : VII, Issue : X, October - 2017

A Study of Pleural Fluid Cholesterol in Differentiating Exudate and Transudate

Dr Karthikeyan G, Dr T. R. Radha, Dr Praveena Daya A

Abstract :

Background: Management of pleural effusion depends on the type of pleural effusion. Pleural fluid cholesterol is considered to be effective in differentiating exudative and transudative type of pleural effusion.

Objective: To study the diagnostic value of pleural fluid cholesterol in differentiating exudative and transudative pleural effusion

Materials and methods: A diagnostic validative study conducted among 162 pleural effusion patients admitted in Medical ward, Department of General Medicine, Govt. Medical College, Kottayam. Definite clinical diagnosis was taken as gold standard and pleural fluid cholesterol values and pleural fluid protein ratio/serum protein ratio was studied for all 162 patients with definite clinical diagnosis.

Results: Pleural fluid cholesterol with a cutoff of ≥ 45 mg/dl have a high sensitivity (97.09 %), specificity (100%), positive predictive value (100%) and negative predictive value (95.16%) in differentiating the type of effusion. Abeviated Light’s criteria have a sensitivity and specificity of 90.29% and 89.83%. Positive predictive value was 93.94% and negative predictive value was 84.13%.

Conclusion: This study showed that the pleural fluid cholesterol has a good diagnostic ability as a single investigation in differentiating exudates from transudates.