Abstract

QUESADA GUILLEN, Roberto Rosendo; POZO ABREU, Silvia María  and  MARTINEZ LARRARTE, José Pedro. Pleural effusion transudate and exudate: classification. Rev Cuba Reumatol [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.3 ISSN 1817-5996.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1467775.

It is important to know how to differentiate pleural effusions resulting from whether an exudate or transudate in order to diagnose the different causes of this disease. We describe the characteristics and formation of pleural fluid, the causes for each type of effusion, as well as the necessary procedures to take useful samples that allow better analysis in the clinical laboratory. An updated strategy was designed to differentiate transudate and exudate fluids through the biochemical methods proposed by Light and by other researchers who have developed and enriched their methods. We also mentioned the usefulness of cell count. We analyzed some limitations to differentiate the types of effusions and those some biochemical markers present to distinguish an exudate from a transudate, as well as the procedures that can be applied in the clinical laboratory. We concluded that Light's criterion is the most efficient to differentiate exudates from transudates in pleural effusions of unknown cause.

Keywords : pleural effusion; differentiation; exudate; transudate.

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