[Does a neurologic clinic need an inhouse cerebrospinal fluid/neurochemical laboratory? Results of a survey of 289 neurological clinics].

In 1993 and 1994 an official inquiry was carried out by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie into the existence of neurochemical laboratories in departments of neurology throughout Germany. The following results were obtained. Neurochemical laboratories are more often seen in neurology departments involved in routine or emergency diagnosis than in departments engaged only in rehabilitation. Nearly all departments with an intensive care unit in a university hospital (91%) and nearly half of those outside the university (46%) have their own neurochemical laboratory. Departments with their own neurochemical laboratories are characterized by the use of specialized immunological diagnosis, especially of the cerebrospinal fluid (e.g., immunoglobulins, isoelectric focusing), in contrast to departments that are not working in the field of emergency medicine and are not equipped with their own neurochemical laboratories. The latter mostly carry out screening tests (e.g., antiepileptic drug monitoring, tumor markers). The existence of a neurochemical laboratory in a neurology department does not lead to an undifferentiated increase in the number of laboratory tests, but reflects the need for specialized diagnosis in CSF and neuroimmunology.