headaches postpunction

BACKGROUND: Recommendations in medical textbooks concerning bed rest after lumbar puncture to prevent postpunctional headache vary between immediate mobilisation and 24 hours bed rest. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of the study was to evaluate the current practice in neurological departments. METHODS: We contacted all neurological departments in Austria by fax and asked about standards concerning bed rest after lumbar puncture and about the number of punctures per month...

The efficacy and compatibility of intrathecal corticoid therapy was studied in a series of 160 patients (out of a total collective of 3000 patients operated on over a 5-year period for disc herniation) suffering from continuing pain in the first 5 days following discectomy. 80 patients received triamcinolone acetonide in crystalline suspension (Volon A 80, 2.0 ml) intrathecally via lumbar puncture on the 5th postoperative day (group A). The remaining 80 patients acted as controls (group B). Additionally, all patients were treated by conservative means...

The present study recorded prospectively subjective complaints after lumbar puncture as diagnostic procedure (n = 59), spinal - (n = 41) and peridural anaesthesia (n = 45) over a time interval of 28 days. Posture dependent headaches were never observed following peridural anaesthesis. This result disproves the hypothesis of a purely psychogenic origin of postpunctional headache. The frequency of occurrence of the postpunctional syndrome was 39% after lumbar puncture, but only 4.9% after spinal anaesthesis. The observed difference is due to the fact that needles with a smaller diameter are applied in spinal anaesthesia...