Diagnostic Value of Lumbar Puncture in Afebrile Infants with Suspected New-Onset Seizures

Received 13 September 2007; received in revised form 24 January 2008; accepted 14 February 2008.

No established guidelines address the need for lumbar puncture in fever-free infants younger than 6 months of age with a first seizure. We analyzed cerebrospinal fluid results in infants and found that lumbar puncture adds little diagnostic value to the evaluation of young, well-appearing infants presenting with possible new-onset seizures.

Abbreviations: CSF, Cerebrospinal fluid, HSV, Herpes simplex virus, LP, Lumbar puncture, PCR, Polymerase chain reaction

⁎ Department of Neurology, Children's National Medical Center and George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC

† National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

Reprint requests: Tarannum Musvee Lateef, MD, Department of Neurology, Children's National Medical Center, 111 Michigan Ave, Washington D.C. 20010.

PII: S0022-3476(08)00106-6

doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.02.030

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