CSF markers for diagnosis of bacterial meningitis in neurosurgical postoperative patients

• Main Authors: Tavares Wagner Malagó, Machado Andre Guelman, Matushita Hamilton, Plese Jose Pindaro P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academia Brasileira de Neurologia (ABNEURO) 2006-01-01
• Series: Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
• Subjects: CSF; bacterial meningitis; neurosurgery; ROC analysis; postoperative infection
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2006000400012
• ISSN: 0004-282X; 1678-4227

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) cellularity, protein, neutrophils, glucose and lactate for detection of postoperative bacterial meningitis. METHOD: This prospective study was conducted in 28 postoperative neurosurgical patients from 2002 to 2005 at University of São Paulo. The CSF markers were plotted in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to evaluate their accuracy. RESULTS: Based on the area under ROC curve CSF glucose, cellularity, and lactate were considered good tests. Polymorphonuclear and protein did not achieve enough accuracy to be used clinically. CONCLUSION: The CSF glucose, lactate, and cellularity can be used for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. Moreover, it can be helpful to differentiate bacterial from aseptic meningitis.