The extensive infiltration of leukemia cells leaves almost no organ or system in the body of a leukemia patient untouched. When leukemia cells invade the central nervous system (including the brain, cerebellum, brainstem and spinal cord), causing headache, nausea, vomiting, nerve paralysis or hemiplegia or even coma, we call it central nervous system leukemia. CNS leukemia, which is one of the causes of death in patients, is also an important cause of leukemia relapse.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, in particular, causes a higher incidence of CNS leukemia. Diagnosis of CNS leukemia is primarily made with the help of a lumbar puncture (i.e., lumbar puncture), which is analyzed and diagnosed by measuring cerebrospinal fluid pressure and examining the cell count, protein and sugar content of the cerebrospinal fluid. If leukemic cells are found in the cerebrospinal fluid, this is the basis for a definitive diagnosis. Once the diagnosis of CNS leukemia is confirmed, treatment is also done by lumbar puncture, which is the injection of chemotherapy drugs into the cerebrospinal fluid.
In addition, after each lumbar puncture, appropriate amounts of chemotherapeutic drugs are routinely injected into the cerebrospinal fluid to prevent CNS leukemia. Therefore, lumbar puncture is the main tool for both diagnosis and prevention of CNS leukemia.
Lumbar puncture is one of the commonly used clinical tests, especially in the diagnosis of neurological diseases. Since a small amount of cerebrospinal fluid is extracted for examination during lumbar puncture, the cerebrospinal fluid pressure may be affected to a certain extent, especially when the patient has intracranial hypertension, there is a risk of brain herniation. Therefore, lumbar puncture should be prohibited for patients with intracranial hypertension. In general, lumbar puncture should be followed by only 6 hours of lying flat with the pillow removed. Local pain or numbness of the lower limbs may occur during lumbar puncture, but it usually recovers after the operation is completed and has little effect on the body and is generally safe.