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