The Value of the Examination of the Cerebrospinal Fluid in the Diagnosis of Intracranial Tumours.

Examination of the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid in the diagnosis of cerebral tumour is less often resorted to than formerly, partly because in some instances there may be a risk of coning after lumbar puncture, but more especially because arteriography and ventriculography are now more frequently used for locating the tumour and examination of the ventricular fluid is often found to be more convenient. Nevertheless, if adequate precautions are taken, the examination of the lumbar cerebrospinal fluid is also not without its use in differential diagnosis. In 1954 the authors read a paper at the 2nd International Congress of Clinical Pathology at Washington on some findings, including the presence of tumour cells, in the cerebrospinal fluid obtained from patients with cerebral tumours. Since then Locoge and Cumings (1958) have reviewed their results in over 12,000 fluids examined, and of these 835 were from patients with various types of intracranial tumour. The present paper records the findings in a total of 916 patients with histologically verified intracranial tumours of certain types seen at the National Hospital, Queen Square, between 1936 and 1957, and at Maida Vale between 1950 and 1957. Attention has been directed to the cell count and to the total protein content, with special reference to the finding of tumour cells and to the sugar content of the fluid.