Spoon Feed
Normal CSF looks different in neonates and infants 29-60 days. Here are the reference values.
Why does this matter?
Normally, 15 WBCs in CSF would be considered a pleiocytosis, but not in a neonate. So what is normal? Cells and protein are higher; glucose is lower.
Adults are not just large neonates…well most of them
This was a large, multi-center study of over 22,000 infants 0-60 days who had CSF sampled. After excluding those who may have had disease which could alter CSF, 7766 remained. They found the following normal values for infant CSF.
- Neonate, 0-28 days: WBC upper limit 15 cells/mm3; protein 127mg/dL; glucose 25mg/dL
- 29-60 days: WBC upper limit 9 cells/mm3; protein 99mg/dL; glucose 27mg/dL
Source
Cerebrospinal Fluid Reference Values for Young Infants Undergoing Lumbar Puncture. Pediatrics. 2018 Feb 2. pii: e20173405. doi: 10.1542/peds.2017-3405. [Epub ahead of print]
Peer reviewed by Thomas Davis, MD.
