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Cerebrospinal Fluid in Clinical Neurology pp 3–16Cite as

The History of Cerebrospinal Fluid

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Abstract

There is a long history of the CSF and its anatomical spaces dating back to ancient Egypt when it occurred first in human literature between 3000 and 2500 BC. The development of knowledge of this fluid goes hand in hand with the history of neuroanatomy. Many famous names in medical history turn up in context with the history of CSF such as Hippocrates, Galen of Pergamon, Leonardo da Vinci and François Magendie. Most authors feel that the first full account of the CSF was given by Domenico Cotugno in 1764, and for some time the fluid was referred to as “liquor cotugnii”. There is also wide consensus that Heinrich Quincke performed the first diagnostic lumbar puncture in 1891 which paved the way for modern CSF diagnostic procedures.

This chapter provides milestones of the history of CSF, the associated neuroanatomy and the diagnostic use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Florian Deisenhammer

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  1. Florian Deisenhammer
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Correspondence to Florian Deisenhammer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

    Florian Deisenhammer

  2. Department of Neurology, Danish Multiple Sclerosis Center Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Finn Sellebjerg

  3. Department of Clinical Chemistry, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam Neurochemistry Laboratory and Biobank, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Charlotte E Teunissen

  4. Department of Neurology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

    Hayrettin Tumani

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Deisenhammer, F. (2015). The History of Cerebrospinal Fluid. In: Deisenhammer, F., Sellebjerg, F., Teunissen, C., Tumani, H. (eds) Cerebrospinal Fluid in Clinical Neurology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01225-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01225-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-01224-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-01225-4

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