The diagnostic value of spectrophotometric analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid in cerebral hematomas.

On a clinical basis it is sometimes impossible to distinguish between small intracerebral hematomas and reversible ischemic strokes (RIND). Analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been used in ths context for several years and is still of importance even since the introduction of computerized tomography (CT) of the brain. CSF has been examined in 23 patients with intracerebral hematomas. Typical cell changes with an increase of poly- and mononuclear white cells are seen within the first days after the stroke, whereas clearly pathological spectrophotometric changes are not seen until about one week after the stroke. None of the investigated patients had a significant increase of the absorbance values at the wavelenths 406 and 415 nm (met- and oxyhemoglobin) until 5 days after the stroke.