Contamination of the Cerebrospinal Fluid by Blood

How to Interpret a CSF—The Art and the Science

“…Simple calculations to correct for blood contamination are based on the assumption that in a normal person the ratio of white to red cells in the CSF attributable to blood contamination is 1:500 to 750 (Solomon et al, 1934;Meritt and Fremont-Smith, 1937;Fishman, 1980;Feigin, 1981;Novak, 1984;Fuchs, 1997). These ratios are based predominantly on in vitro studies.…”