Lights criteria

Light's criteria are used to differentiate between exudative and transudative pleural effusion by analyzing pleural fluid and serum. The criteria are as follows:


Keshav gupta (from TCML Team)
 

A pleural effusion is classified as exudative if at least one of the following conditions is met:

 

1. Pleural fluid protein/Serum protein ratio > 0.5

2. Pleural fluid lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)/Serum LDH ratio > 0.6

3. Pleural fluid LDH > two-thirds of the upper limit of normal (ULN) for serum LDH

 

If none of these criteria are met, the pleural effusion is classified as transudative.

 

Exudative pleural effusion 

Transudative pleural effusion 

1. Infection (Tuberculosis,
Pneumonia etc.) 

2. Malignancy 

3. Others- 
Chylothorax
Pulmonary embolism etc. 

1. Heart failure 

2. Nephrotic syndrome 

3. Cirrhosis 

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