BMJ : British medical journal
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Multicenter Study
Differentiation between traumatic tap and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: prospective cohort study.
To describe the findings in cerebrospinal fluid from patients with acute headache that could distinguish subarachnoid hemorrhage from the effects of a traumatic lumbar puncture. ⋯ No xanthochromia and red blood cell count <2000 × 10(6)/L reasonably excludes the diagnosis of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage. Most patients with acute headache who meet this cut off will need no further investigations and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage can be excluded as a cause of their headache.