Article: Non-urine body fluid specific gravity.(Readers respond)(Letter to the editor)

At my institution, I took the issue to the next level. I reviewed the literature and contacted experts, who were all in agreement, that there was no clinical value for peritoneal or pleural specific gravity measurement. As a result, we eliminated the test from our menu. Elimination of the test was facilitated by the fact that we were getting a low (but persistent) volume of requests. I have yet to identify a unique clinical utility for peritoneal, pleural or synovial fluid specific gravity measurements and am willing to modify the policy if [that] can be provided.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

--David Alter, MD

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