Quantitation of cerebrospinal fluid lactic acid in infectious and non-infectious neurological diseases.
BACKGROUND
The differential diagnosis between bacterial and viral meningitis is not easy in some cases. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis is essential for establishing this diagnosis. The objectives were to quantitate lactic acid (LA) concentrations in bacterial and viral meningitis, and other central nervous system (CNS) diseases in order to evaluate the diagnostic utility of CSF LA for discriminating bacterial from viral meningitis.


METHODS
CSF LA was measured in 139 CSF samples from seven groups: viral meningitis with classic CSF; suspicion of viral meningitis with neutrophils in CSF; bacterial meningitis; non-infectious neurological diseases; chronic meningitis; traumatic lumbar puncture (LP) and normal CSF.


RESULTS
CSF LA was higher in bacterial meningitis 8.7 + 5.4 mmol/L compared with viral meningitis (1.9 + 0.6) and the other groups (p < 0.0001). CSF LA in the groups with viral meningitis was not different compared to groups with non-infectious CNS diseases and chronic meningitis. The ability of CSF LA to discriminate bacterial from viral meningitis showed a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 97%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 94%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 89%.


CONCLUSIONS
CSF LA is a powerful test to discriminate bacterial from viral meningitis with high sensitivity, specificity and predictive values. CSF LA can help in the cases with diagnostic uncertainty.
de Almeida
Sérgio Monteiro
SM
Virology Section, Clinical Pathology Laboratory, Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil. sergio.ma@pop.com.br
Faria
Fernanda Luize
FL
de Goes Fontes
Karina
K
Buczenko
Gisele Maria
GM
Berto
Denize Bonato
DB
Raboni
Sonia Mara
SM
Vidal
Luine Rosele
LR
Nogueira
Meri Bordignon
MB
D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002555:Cerebrospinal Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016920:Meningitis, Bacterial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000382:microbiology; D008587:Meningitis, Viral / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000821:virology; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
D015415:Biomarkers; D019344:Lactic Acid