A NOVEL BEDSIDE TECHNIQUE FOR DIFFERENTIATION OF EXUDATIVE FROM TRANSUDATIVE PLEURAL EFFUSION

Background: At present, differentiation between exudative and transudative pleural effusion is based solely on laboratory measures and is time-consuming. A simple bedside method would be of great help to differentiate between these two types of effusions. We present a new method for this purpose assessed in 46 patients. Methods: Standard laboratory tests and our method were tested using the same fluid samples in 46 patients with pleural effusion. A principal in physics called the capillary tube law (h=2a/rpg) was used to compare the samples. The imbibition of the fluid level less than 15mm signified exudate and greater than 15mm signified transudate. Results: Our data shows that this method is 74% sensitive and 89.4% specific compared to the standard method when analyzed statistically by the chi-square and Kappa agreement (Cronbach’s K) tests. Conclusion: The capillary tube test has an acceptable validity for bedside diagnosis of exudative or transudative effusions.