The clinical significance of cytological study of CSF

Six-hundred-twenty-six CSF sepecimens from 90 patients with 88 various types of leukaemias and 2 lymphomas were studied with a simple self-made apparatus.In 38 of 90 case,（42.2%） blast cells were found.Results showed that the order of incidence of CNSL was ALL,AML and AMOL respectively,with no difference in children or adults.Analysis of positive smears showed that the incidences of samples with normal cell count,＜45mg proteins and ＜200mg H₂O pressure were 72.7%,66.6% and 68.9% respectively.When only a few leukaemic cells were present,the white cell count usually was not raised.The changes in the levels of proteins in CSF were not significantly related to the finding of leukaemic cells.According to these results,we suggest that the presence of leukaemic cells in CSF is more significant for the dignosis of CNSL.The technique of sedimentation is simple and useful for finding of blast cells in CSF.The morphological characteristics of normal cells in CSF were also described.