A study to assess the role of C reactive protein as a marker in diagnosing pleural effusion

Abstract

The cause of pleural effusion is due to systemic or localized pathology and based on the etiology involved the pleural effusion is either classified into transudate and exudate supported by Light’s Criteria. Other than the marker used in Lights Criteria C reactive protein is said to be studied to determine its role in classifying exudate and transudate. The present study was done to assess the role of C reactive protein in diagnosing pleural effusion.The cross-sectional study was conducted by the Department of Chest and Respiratory Medicine at Chamarajanagara Institute of Medical Sciences from June 2019 to May 2020. A total of 120 cases of clinically confirmed cases of Pleural Effusion Cases were selected for the purpose of the study among the outpatient and inpatient in the Department of General Medicine and Respiratory Medicine Department. The Mean CRP of 1.05±1.09 was found to be cut off value for differentiating between transudate and exudate Pleural fluid. At the Cut off value of 1.05 CRP it was found to be having a sensitivity of 75.4% and 77.6% of sensitivity. From the present study we could conclude that the CRP Value of 1.05mg/dl was found to be having a good specificity and sensitivity in classifying the pleural fluid into transudate and exudate. Finally we could conclude that CRP can be used as a Biomarker to differentiate between Transudate and Exudate when Lights criteria falls in borderline.