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Rapid differentiation of subarachnoid hemorrhage from traumatic lumbar puncture using the D-dimer assay
D T Lang1, L B Berberian, S Lee
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California 90048.
American Journal of Clinical Pathology
|March 1, 1990
Abstract:
The D-dimer assay of 40 cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) samples accurately differentiated subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) from traumatic lumbar puncture. The D-dimer assay was positive in all six patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage. Negative D-dimer values were obtained in control groups of 14 patients with hemorrhagic CSF secondary to traumatic lumbar puncture (LP) and in 20 patients with normal CSF. The D-dimer assay proved to be a better test than xanthochromia or the decline in erythrocyte count in sequentially collected tubes in differentiating subarachnoid hemorrhage from traumatic LP.