Results of biochemical and cellular analysis of pericardial fluid by optical microscopy with estimated reference intervals
| Outliers | Median (range) | LRL 2.5th centile (90% CI) | URL 97.5th centile (90% CI) | |
| Cell numbers (× 106/L)—optical microscopy | ||||
| Total nucleated cells (n=111) | 2 | 1977 (37–8453) | 278* (189 to 517) | 5608* (4771 to 6270) |
| Mononucleated cells (n=105) | 2 | 1919 (25–8115) | 199* (127 to 317) | 5219* (4546 to 5850) |
| Mesothelial cells (n=105) | 2 | 1283 (0–5579) | 40* (17 to 90) | 3790* (3296 to 4230) |
| Leucocytes (n=107) | 0 | 503 (22–4812) | 35* (23 to 52) | 2210* (1898 to 2506) |
| Lymphocytes (n=105) | 2 | 304 (8–2374) | 19* (13 to 29) | 1634* (1375 to 1874) |
| Polymorphonucleated cells (n=100) | 7 | 2 (0–173) | 0 | 116* (93 to 136) |
| Monocytes (n=106) | 1 | 45 (0–631) | 0 | 391* (308 to 462) |
| Macrophages (n=105) | 3 | 11 (0–338) | 0 | 207* (170-240) |
| Biochemical measurand | ||||
| Total protein (n=119, g/dL) | 0 | 2.8 (1.7–5.3) | 1.7 (1.7 to 1.8) | 4.6 (4.4 to 5.3) |
| Total protein-ratio† (n=109) | 0 | 0.50 (0.27–0.88) | 0.29* (0.27 to 0.30) | 0.83* (0.79 to 0.86) |
| Albumin (n=104, g/dL) | 0 | 1.92 (1.20–3.65) | 1.19* (1.13 to 1.24) | 3.06* (2.88 to 3.19) |
| Albumin-gradient‡ (n=100, g/dL) | 1 | 1.40 (0.10–2.35) | 0.18* (0.09 to 0.28) | 2.37* (2.28 to 2.50) |
| LDH (n=118, U/L) | 0 | 357 (126–3543) | 141 (126 to 169) | 2613 (1701 to 3543) |
| LDH-ratio† (n=107) | 7 | 1.10 (0.21–4.07) | 0.40* (0.34 to 0.48) | 2.99* (2.65 to 3.29) |
| Glucose (n=104, mg/dL) | 0 | 95 (77–150) | 80* (79 to 81) | 134* (127 to 139) |
| Total cholesterol (n=117, mg/dL) | 0 | 27 (11–96) | 12 (11 to 12) | 69 (54 to 96) |
| Cholesterol-ratio† (n=100) | 1 | 0.22 (0.07–0.68) | 0.07* (0.06 to 0.08) | 0.51* (0.46 to 0.56) |
*Horn and Pesce robust algorithm, 90% CI calculated with the bootstrap method.
†Pericardial fluid value/serum value.
‡Serum albumin-pericardial fluid albumin.
LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; LRL, lower reference limit; URL, upper reference limit.