Specificity of elevated cerebrospinal fluid bilirubin in the investigation of subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Background: The spectrophotometric examination of cerebrospinal fluid for bilirubin is an established investigation in patients with suspected subarachnoid haemorrhage. This study assesses the diagnostic specificity of an elevated cerebrospinal fluid bilirubin and how this may be influenced by the presence of oxyhaemoglobin and the concentration of cerebrospinal fluid total protein.

Methods: One thousand cerebrospinal fluid spectroscopy reports were reviewed.