Exclusion of leukaemic meningitis by quantitation of T and B lymphocytes in cerebrospinal fluid
Harrison, P.B.; Cripps, A.W.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Medicine 12(3): 286-287
1982
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-8291 PMID: 6981407 Document Number: 195470
Involvement of the CNS in chronic lymphatic leukemia (CLL) is evidently rare. However, when a patient with CLL presented with meningeal symptoms and a high CSF lymphocyte count in the absence of identifiable infection, meningeal leukemia was considered the most likely diagnosis. Subsequent quantitation of T and B lymphocytes in the blood and CSF was found to be a valuable aid in excluding the diagnosis; a cryptococcal infection was later proven. Thus, the value of T and B lymphocyte quantitation, where difficulty is experienced in interpretation of cells in CSF in patients with leukemia or lymphoma, was evident.