CHOLESTEROL IN ASCITIC FLUIDS AND PLEURAL EFFUSIONS: VALUE AS A TUMOR MARKER

42 patients with pleural effusion and ascitis due to variable underlying diseases were included in this prospective study. Effusion and ascitic fluid LDH activity, cytology, protein content and Cholesterol level were measured to investigate their utility in differentiating the exudates from the transudates. By predefined criteria, 31 of these efusions were classified as exudates and 11 as transudates. By using protein content and LDH activity as a differentiating parameter,1% of the effusions were erroneously classified, whereas fluid cholesterol concentrations separeted the exudates from the transudates in "95,2% of the cases (only 4,76% incorrectly classified). Mean cholesterol level in malignant effusions was 102,4 mg/dl, 72,7 mg/dl in inflamatory exudates and 23,8 mg/dl in the transudates. Using a dividing line of 85 mg/dl (the highest value observed in the inflamatory exudates), 79% of malign exudates were correctly classified. 85% of malign exudates were cytology positive, while biopsies confirmed the histopatologic diagnosis in the remaining. Our findings indicate that the ascitic fluid and pleural fluid cholesterol level is a simple, sensitive and cost-effective biochemical marker in differentiating malign exudates.