EBMcalc Medical Calculator

Clinical criteria for exudative pleural effusion in adults (Light's criteria with continuous likelihood ratios)

The EBMcalc module Clinical criteria for exudative pleural effusion in adults (Light's criteria with continuous likelihood ratios) is available in EBMcalc Complete Edition.

This calculator yields the following results:

Pleural fluid to serum protein ratio
Pleural fluid to serum LDH ratio
Pleural fluid LDH to upper limit of normal serum LDH ratio
PreTestOdds
Pro ratio LR
LDH ratio LR
LDH proportion of lab limit LR
PostTestOdds
PostTestProb

Equation parameters include:

Pleural fluid protein
Serum protein
Pleural fluid LDH
Serum LDH
Upper limit of normal serum LDH
PreTestSuspicion

References

Heffner JE, Highland K, Brown LK. A meta-analysis derivation of continuous likelihood ratios for diagnosing pleural fluid exudates. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003; 167:1591. PubMed ID: 12796053
Porcel JM, Pena JM, Vicente de Vera C, et al. Bayesian analysis using continuous likelihood ratios for identifying pleural exudates. Respir Med. 2006; 100:1960. PubMed ID: 16626953
Light RW, Macgregor MI, Luchsinger PC, Ball WB Jr. Pleural effusions: the diagnostic separation of transudates and exudates. Ann Intern Med. 1972; 77:507. PubMed ID: 4642731

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