In a paper, published in the current issue of Pediatrics, Margolis and Cook1 stress the risk of a so-cabled routine lumbar puncture performed on infants with primary pulmonary or cardiac disease. Their experience, that in such instances a lumbar puncture may induce respiratory or cardiac arrest, prompts one to reexamine indications for this procedure. As a rule, we should have a specific question or questions which we hope can be answered by examination of the CSF. The more relevant this question to the diagnosis and treatment of a patient, the greater the risk that can be taken in obtaining spinal fluid.