Examination of CSF provides vital information which aids in the diagnosis of a wide variety of disorders:

• benign disorders
  • meningitis
  • encephalitis
  • brain abscess
  • subarachnoid hemorrhage
  • cerebral infract vs. intracerebral hemorrhage
  • multiple sclerosis
  • Guillian-Barre's syndrome
  • spinal cord tumor
• malignant disorders
  • leukemia CNS involvement
  • malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord
  • metastasis of malignant tumors