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Does obesity preclude lumbar puncture with a standard spinal needle? The use of computed tomography to measure the skin to lumbar subarachnoid space distance in the general hospital population

  • Computed Tomography
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Abstract

Objectives

Failed lumbar puncture (LP) is a common indication for referral for radiologically guided LP. This study aims to evaluate what percentage of the hospital population would fail an LP using a standard 9-cm needle because of obesity and a skin to subarachnoid space distance greater than 9 cm.

Methods

Images of 402 consecutive patients undergoing computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis were reviewed. Skin to subarachnoid space distance was calculated using sagittal images. A survey was conducted among junior hospital doctors to assess their experience of performing lumbar puncture in obese patients.

Results

Four hundred patients were included. Fifty-five patients (13.8 %) had a skin to subarachnoid space distance greater than 9 cm. Intra-abdominal fat, subcutaneous fat and abdominal girth correlated with distance between the skin and subarachnoid space. Among junior doctors, 68.3 % (n = 41) reported LP failure on an obese patient; 78.4 % (n = 47) were unaware of the existence of a longer needle and 13.3 % (n = 8) had experience using a longer needle.

Conclusions

A significant proportion of the hospital population will fail LP with a standard length spinal needle. Selecting a longer needle may be sufficient to successfully complete LP in obese patients.

Key Points

• Lumbar puncture failure commonly leads to referral for an image-guided procedure

• Standard lumbar puncture may fail in 13.8 % of patients due to obesity

• 78.4 % of trainee doctors are unaware of the existence of longer spinal-needles

• Using longer spinal needles may allow successful LP in obese patients

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Abbreviations

LP:

Lumbar puncture

HR:

Hazard ratio

NCHD:

Non-consultant hospital doctors

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Correspondence to William C. Torreggiani.

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Halpenny, D., O’Sullivan, K., Burke, J.P. et al. Does obesity preclude lumbar puncture with a standard spinal needle? The use of computed tomography to measure the skin to lumbar subarachnoid space distance in the general hospital population. Eur Radiol 23, 3191–3196 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2909-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2909-8

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