Specimen Collection
1 mL CSF
Reference Intervals

Units: mmol/L

Reference range: 2.8 - 4.4

Uncertainty of Measurement: 5%

Send specimen to Microbiology for cell count and culture first.

Conversion Factors: mg/100 mL x 0.0555 = mmol/L
mmol/L x 18 = mg/100mL

Turnaround Time: Within 3 hours
Assay Method

Principle: Colorimetric

Reagents: Roche GLU3 kit

Analyser: Cobas c702

Diagnostic Use and Interpretation

Often markedly decreased in acute pyogenic meningitis, tuberculous meningitis , cryptococcal meningitis , primary amoebic meningoencephalitis , and mumps encephalitis .

Slight decrease in non-bacterial meningoencephalitis and subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Increased if serum glucose increased.

Contact Information

Emails to chemicalpathologist@adhb.govt.nz will receive priority attention from the on-call chemical pathologist.

If the query concerns a specific patient please include the NHI number in your email.

If email is not a suitable option, please contact the on-call chemical pathologist via Lablink (Auckland City Hospital ext. 22000 or 09-3078995).

Individual chemical pathologists may be contacted but will not be available at all times.

After-hours : contact Lablink (Auckland City Hospital ext. 22000 or 09-3078995) or hospital operator for on duty staff after hours.

Dr Samarina Musaad (Clinical Lead) : SamarinaM@adhb.govt.nz ext. 22402

Dr Cam Kyle: CampbellK@adhb.govt.nz ext 22052

Dr Weldon Chiu: WeldonC@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427

Dr Campbell Heron: CHeron@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427

Dr Sakunthala Jayasinghe: Sakunthala@adhb.govt.nz ext. 23427

Last updated at 15:26:00 06/01/2025