title: Immunohistochemical analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid for carcinomatous and lymphomatous leptomeningitis.
abstract: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of immunohistochemical analysis in relation to the standard cytological examination of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in patients with either a solid tumour or a haematological malignancy and possible leptomeningeal disease, 68 CSF-samples derived from 68 patients were examined. The sensitivity of immunohistochemical analysis was 0.54 and its specificity 0.98. Only one patient had a positive immunohistochemistry and a negative cytology. The gain of adding immunohistochemistry to cytology is nearly 8%. It is concluded that immunohistochemistry should not be used as a screening test for leptomeningeal disease in patients with cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Dr. Daniel Den Hoed Cancer Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hovestadt
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Henzen-Logmans
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Vecht
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000166:cytology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008581:Meningitis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology