Advances in the analysis of cerebrospinal fluid.

The laboratory examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) continues to play an important role in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of various disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). The major conditions currently include, as they have in the past, infectious diseases, neoplastic processes, multiple sclerosis, other demyelinating disorders, and intracerebral hemorrhage. Recent publications suggest a variety of new laboratory tests that may be useful in the evaluation of patients with both primary and metastatic malignancies, Alzheimer's disease, Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, global ischemia, various psychiatric disorders, CSF otorrhea and rhinorrhea, and in the differential diagnosis of cortical vs lacunar stroke, among others. Examples of these recent developments and their possible clinical usefulness are discussed.