Evaluation of the effects of resting in appearance of post lumbar puncture headache.

Lumbar puncture (LP) is a procedure for obtaining spinal fluid from spinal meningeal spaces this can be done as a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure which can result in to a typical positional headache named as post lumbar puncture headache .This can cause a lot of discomforts for patients and makes fear from the procedure. This study designed to evaluate the effect of resting position after LP on post lumbar puncture headache (PLPH). Patients who had a diagnostic lumbar puncture were divided randomly in two groups .Group A patients had one hour rest in the supine position while group B patients had one hour rest in the prone position. Both groups followed for appearance of symptoms of PLPH for 5 days. 119 patients completed the study, 57 (48%) male patients and 62 (52%) female .PLPH totally appeared in 38 (31.9%) patients .In the group A PLPH was present in 20 patients whereas in group B it was present in 18 patients. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between two groups (P>0.07). Position of rest after LP has no significant effect on reducing post lumbar puncture headache and there is no need to emphasize on position of rest after LP.

Evaluation of pre lumbar puncture position on post lumbar puncture headache.

BACKGROUND: The most common complication of lumbar puncture (LP) occurring in over thirty percent of patients is headache. The position after lumbar puncture, needle type and size, and volume of the extracted cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been evaluated as contributory factors in occurrence of post lumbar puncture headache (PLPH), but the position before lumbar puncture has not been evaluated. METHODS: The occurrence of post lumbar puncture headache was evaluated in 125 patients undergoing lumbar puncture, divided randomly into sitting and lateral decubitus groups in the following five days. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Thirty eight patients (30.4%) reported headache after lumbar puncture in the two groups, and post lumbar puncture headache was significantly lower in the lateral decubitus position (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference between genders in the post lumbar puncture headache occurrence (p = 0.767). CONCLUSIONS: Lumbar puncture in sitting position could produce more post lumbar puncture headache in comparison with lateral decubitus position.