Atraumatic lumbar puncture needles after all these years, are we still missing the point?

Katherine Arendt, Bart M. Demaerschalk, Dean M. Wingerchuk, William Camann

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Cutting needles remain the most commonly used needle design for lumbar puncture in the neurology community, although atraumatic (noncutting) needles have become common and popular for anesthesiologists performing spinal anesthesia. Review Summary: The use of atraumatic spinal needles for lumbar puncture has been shown to significantly reduce the incidence of postdural puncture headache compared with cutting needles, without loss of efficacy or ease of use. Conclusion: The use of noncutting or pencil-point spinal needles should become the standard for performing diagnostic lumbar puncture.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)17-20
Number of pages4
JournalNeurologist
Volume15
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2009

Keywords

  • Anesthesia spinal
  • Atraumatic needle
  • Neurology
  • Postdural puncture headache
  • Spinal puncture

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology

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