[Contribution of lumbar puncture to the diagnosis of cephalalgia]

The authors have reviewed the records of 50 patients hospitalized for treatment of isolated cephalalgia and in whom lumbar puncture was the only investigatory procedure that initially provided some information. In 12 cases, CSF abnormalities reflected a progressive tumoral, vascular or inflammatory intracerebral lesion undetectable by the usual methods (fundus oculi, radiography of the skull, EEG), or by less common examinations (arteriography, scintiscans, CT scans). In 12 other cases, lumbar puncture provided evidence of a minimal meningeal inflammatory process. In 26 cases, the only biochemical change was an excess of CSF proteins which in 7 cases developed in a dome-shaped curve suggesting an independent disease, the significance of which is discussed.