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Light's Criteria

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Light's Criteria is a diagnostic tool used to determine of the cause of a pulmonary effusion; transudate versus exudate. This relies on a comparison of the chemistries in the pleural fluid to those in the blood. According to Light's criteria, a pleural effusion is likely exudative if at least one of the following exists: The ratio of pleural fluid protein to serum protein is greater than 0.5, the ratio of pleural fluid LDH and serum LDH is greater than 0.6, or the pleural fluid LDH is greater than 0.6 or 2⁄3 times the normal upper limit for serum.

4 KEY FACTS

Light's criteria is used to determine whether the source of a pleural effusion is transudative or exudative.

If the ratio of pleural fluid protein to serum protein is greater than 0.5, the effusion fluid is exudative.

The pleural effusion is likely exudative if the ratio of pleural fluid LDH and serum LDH is greater than 0.6

If the pleural fluid LDH is greater than 0.6 or 2⁄3 times the normal upper limit for serum, it is likely to be exudative, based on Light's criteria. Different laboratories have different values for the upper limit of serum LDH, but examples include 200 and 300 IU/l.

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