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Cerebrospinal Fluid ColorAka: CSF Color

See Also
1. Cerebrospinal Fluid
2. Lumbar Puncture
Normal
1. Clear as water
Abnormal findings
1. Faint yellow, orange or pink (Xanthochromia)
  1. CSF Protein >100 mg/dl
  2. Red Blood Cell lysis
  3. Red Blood Cell >100,000/mm3 (Subarachnoid Hemorrhage)
2. Cloudy or turbid
  1. CSF Leukocytes > 200 wbc/mm3
  2. Red Blood Cells > 400 per mm3
3. Brown or Dark CSF
  1. Metastatic Melanoma (meningeal Melanomatosis)
  2. Jaundice (Hyperbilirubinemia)
4. Green CSF
  1. Hyperbilirubinemia
  2. Purulent cerebrospinal fluid
References
1. Kooiker in Roberts (1998) Procedures in ER, p. 1067-75
2. Ravel (1995) Lab Medicine, Mosby, p. 294-9
3. Tunkel in Mandell (2000) Infectious Disease, p. 974-8
4. Seehusen (2003) Am Fam Physician 68:1103

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This page was written by Scott Moses, MD. This page was last revised before 5/10/08, prior to consistent tracking of revision date. This page was last published on 6/1/2008. Please send comments and questions to the editor. Contact information may be found on the page About the Family Practice Notebook. These pages are best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.