This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Philip B. Gorelick, MD; Frank A. Rubino, MD
Veterans Administration Hospital Hines, III

JAMA. 1980;243(1):32.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

I read the answers of Herbert N. Hultgren, MD (241:2549, 1979), to the questions concerning anticoagulation therapy for "stroke in evolution." Concerning the CSF examination to exclude hemorrhage or hemorrhagic infarction, the following recommendations serve as guidelines for those considering spinal puncture.

In the presence of an intracerebral hematoma, lumbar puncture entails a risk of tentorial or cerebellar herniation. If computerized axial tomographic examination shows no evidence of a mass lesion, uniformly blood-stained CSF may be sought.¹

The accurate diagnosis of meningitis, meningeal carcinomatosis,² and diseases requiring CSF globulin quantitation³ requires completion of spinal puncture.

With evidence of intracranial mass lesions, lumbar puncture rarely generates information sufficient to justify complications.⁴ . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?