This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Tobey Ayer test

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

The Tobey Ayer test is for a block in the spinal canal.

Pressure is applied to the neck in order to compress the internal jugular veins; this reduces venous outflow from the cranium and raises the intracranial pressure. A spinal puncture will displace CSF into the spinal sac and cause the measured CSF pressure, e.g. by manometer, to rise rapidly. This is not seen if a spinal block to the flow of CSF is present, as in Froin's syndrome.

The test is very unreliable.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.