Normal CSF may contain up to 5 WBCs per mm3 in adults Blood contaminating CSF in the setting of haemorrhage or traumatic tap can disrupting the white cell count The ratio of WBC to RBC in blood is roughly 1:750 It is suggested to correct the white cell count by...
Normally, there are no RBCs in the cerebrospinal fluid Traumatic lumbar tap: Occurs in 20% of lumbar punctures Differentiated from haemorrhagic causes by a falling RBC count across three bottles counted in order of collection Subarachnoid haemorrhage Intracerebral...
Normal range in an adult is 0.2 – 0.4 g/L May be falsely elevated following a traumatic tap: Can be corrected by subtracting 10mg/L for every 1000 RBCs/mm3 Correction is only accurate if the same tube is used for the protein and cell...