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Previous Volume 347:1286-1287 October 17, 2002 Number 16 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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To the Editor: The criteria discussed by Light in his Clinical Practice article on pleural effusion (June 20 issue)¹ are stringent and highly sensitive in identifying an exudate. However, their specificity is low, particularly in patients with heart failure. Studies have shown that up to one third of pleural-fluid specimens from the subgroup of patients with the sole diagnosis of congestive heart failure fulfill at least one of Light's criteria for an exudate.^2,3 We found that patients with congestive heart failure who had false positive results were more likely to meet only one of Light's criteria and to have received . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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