Introduction:

Serous fluids are classified as exudates/ transudates based on protein concentration and other criteria that have a large margin of error. Subsequently, criteria were tested separately for pleural fluids in 1972 by Light et al and for ascitic fluids in 1992 the Runyon criteria with respective sensitivities of 98 % for the first and 97 % for the second. Currently, the primary criterion continues to be applied with an error of up to 40 %.

Objective:

To identify the margin of error in the classification of pleural and ascitic fluids when using the classical criteria (Starling) with respect to the current criteria of Light and Runyon using nationally produced reagents.

Methods:

185 fluid samples were studied - 121 pleural and 64 ascitic - in the period 2017/2022 at the Miguel Enriquez Clinical Surgical Teaching Hospital in Havana.

Results:

Discordances were found in the classification of exudates / transudates of liquids using the different differentiation methods, important in the clinical diagnosis, concluding that using the classic criterion of Starling proteins, 9,1 % and 17,2 % of the pleural and ascitic effusions had errors in their classification as exudate and/or transudate.

Conclusion:

The margin of error in the classification of pleural and ascitic fluids ranged from 9-17% when the classical criteria of proteins (Starling) is used with respect to the current criteria of Light and Runyon.

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