during my lumbar puncture the doctor gave a number of 15 and what does that mean?

[dootr]

during my lumbar puncture the doctor gave a number of 15 and i would like to know what that means?

[SarahL2491]

I agree with HVAC but doubt it refers to MS.  That would come back as "bands" and remember, not everyone who has MS shows bands.  I have none.

[laritaraine]

I had one last week and I heard the number 12. I Think it's referred to opening pressure. I also heard him say... "it's elevated". Still waiting for actual results. Hang in there.

[HVAC]

I also think it is pressure

[immisceo]

Yeah, my guess is the pressure as well. It's something they're monitoring during the procedure, for sure. I wasn't told any numbers during mine, but the following makes me think that might be the right track.

"CSF pressure, as measured by lumbar puncture (LP), is 10-18 cmH2O (8-15 mmHg or 1.1-2 kPa) with the patient lying on the side and 20-30cmH2O (16-24 mmHg or 2.1-3.2 kPa) with the patient sitting up."
From http://neuropathology-web.org/chapter14/chapter14CSF.html

As Kyle said, you're not really going to be given any pertinent MS diagnostic information during the LP. It takes a while to get those results back.

[4happygnomes]

During my LP, the doctor gave a number of 88, I asked what she was referring to and it was referring to the initial pressure...everyone's is different.   I'm not sure that would be what your doctor was referring to though as your result of 15 would be very low (70-180 mm is the range).  

It could also be the amount of fluid removed in ml as the # given falls in that range (10-15ml)  

Was he/she speaking directly to you or to his/her assistant?  Perhaps it is just info for recording purposes and of no significant "diagnostic" value?

[kwarendorf]

Hi dootr- Welcome to the group.

I suppose 15 could mean a lot of different things. If he gave you the number during the procedure, it's hard to imagine that he was referring to the LP results. These take days or weeks to get. If he gave you the number after the results arrived he must have given the number a label; 15 widgets or 14 wrenches.

Can you give us any more info?

Kyle