Prospective evaluation of point-of-care ultrasound for pre-procedure identification of landmarks versus traditional palpation for lumbar puncture.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to determine if point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) pre-procedure identification of landmarks can decrease failure rate, reduce procedural time, and decrease the number of needle redirections and reinsertions when performing a lumbar puncture (LP).

METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial comparing POCUS pre-procedure identification of landmarks versus traditional palpation for LP in a cohort of patients in the emergency department and intensive care unit.

RESULTS: A total of 158 patients were enrolled. No significant difference was found in time to completion, needle re-direction, or needle re-insertion when using POCUS when compared to the traditional method of palpation.

CONCLUSION: Consistent with findings of previous studies, our data indicate that there was no observed benefit of using POCUS to identify pre-procedure landmarks when performing an LP.