ArticleScientific reports2025
Effects of light's criteria on the diagnostic accuracy of pleural fluid carcinoembryonic antigen concentrations for malignant pleural effusion.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The pleural fluid carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test is a diagnostic tool for malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Light's criteria are an important method for the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. This study aimed to analyze the effects of Light's criteria on the diagnostic accuracy of CEA concentrations. The subjects of this study were from a retrospective cohort (BUFF study) and a prospective cohort (SIMPLE study). All participants had pleural effusion with undetermined cause. We extracted data on the basic clinical characteristics, final diagnoses, and pleural fluid CEA concentrations of the patients from their medical records. Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the correlations between CEA concentrations and serum, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and total protein levels in the pleural fluid. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between Light's criteria and false-negative CEA results. A total of 340 patients with pleural effusion of unknown etiology were included in this study, including 118 patients with MPE patients and 222 patients with benign pleural effusion (BPE). In all patients, as well as in those with BPE or MPE, the pleural fluid CEA concentration was positively correlated with the total protein ratio, the LDH ratio, and pleural fluid LDH activity, with correlation coefficients of approximately 0.3. In patients with negative CEA results, an LDH ratio greater than 0.6 was independently associated with false-negative CEA results. In patients with negative pleural fluid CEA results, an LDH ratio greater than 0.6 suggests a false-negative result.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.