Bed Side Diagnosis of Pleural Fluid Using Reagent Strips

Abstract

Introduction: On average, the total volume of pleural fluid in a 70-kg non-smoking human is 18mL. Objectives: To determine the frequency of correctly diagnosed type of pleural effusion by reagent strips in comparison to Light’s criteria. Study Design: Cross sectional Analytical study. Setting: Department of Pulmonolgy DHQ Hospital Faisalabad. Duration of Study: Study was carried out over a period of six months from 01-06-2015 to 31-11-2015. Materials and Methods: Total one hundred patients with pleural effusion were included in this study. The pleural fluid was tested by use of a reagent strip. Different cut off values for reagent strip were:(specific gravity; dark green 1.005, light green 1.015, brown 1.02, orange 1.03) and (protein; 1+ 30, 2+ 100, 3+ 500 mg/dl). The type of pleural effusion

(exudative or transdative) obtained from reagent strips as per according to operational definition were compared with results according to Light’s criteria which was taken as Gold Standard. Results: Regarding age distribution, majority of the patients i.e. 38 (38.0%) were between 40-59 years of age while minimum 9 (9.0%) were < 20 years. Mean age of the patients was observed 41.3±6.9. Distribution of cases by gender shows 63 (63.0%) patients were male while remaining 37 (37.0%) were females. Out of 100 patients, 84 (84.0%) were correctly diagnosed type on reagent strips. Conclusion: Pleural effusion is a commonly encountered problem in medical practice in our country. The initial step in evaluating case of pleural effusion is to establish the type of pleural effusion.