The Development of Sayk's Cell Sedimentation Chamber: A Historical View on Clinical Cerebrospinal Fluid Diagnostics

The history of Sayk's cell sedimentation chamber is examined and reviewed in the context of clinically utilizable cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology.

A review of the literature was undertaken in PubMed and Google Scholar to search for primary and secondary sources on the history of CSF diagnosis. Moreover, documents in the archives of the Universities of Rostock and Jena, the Brain Research Institute of Cécile and Oskar Vogt in Düsseldorf and the Centre for Neurology at Rostock University were used.

The cell sedimentation chamber, developed by Johannes Sayk (1923-2005) at the beginning of the 1950s, enabled, for the first time, CSF cells to be presented with a quality comparable to the blood profile, with a low technological expenditure and using all staining methods suitable for haematological cells. The procedure could be performed quickly and cost efficiently, and therefore, it was easy to integrate it into clinical routine and it quickly became a widely used procedure. In Europe, it was considered the standard method for cytodiagnosis of CSF until the 1990s.

The procedure revolutionised CSF diagnostics and paved the way for modern qualitative CSF cytology. In course of time, the cell sedimentation chamber was superseded by the cytocentrifuge.