Does Static Ultrasound-Preview Reduce the Incidence of Difficult Lumbar Puncture?

St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center60 enrolled

Overview

Does the use of ultrasound facilitate a lumbar puncture by reducing the number of difficult and traumatic lumbar punctures?

This is a controlled trial randomizing lumbar puncture patients to groups utilizing ultrasound to preview the bony structures of the spine versus using standard palpation technique. The goal is to determine the helpfulness of ultrasound in performing lumbar punctures (to reduce difficult and traumatic lumbar punctures) among patients whose spines cannot be easily visualized.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

DIAGNOSTIC

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Headache Meningitis Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Interventions

UltrasoundDEVICE

Ultrasound used to visualize spine to determine best location for lumbar puncture.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Age greater than 18 * Clinical need for lumbar puncture * Unable to visualize spine in position for the lumbar puncture Exclusion Criteria: * Able to visualize the spinous processes

Locations (1)

St.Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital

New York, New York, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

3 or more needle sticks to successfully complete lumbar puncture

Time frame: We collect the data immediately

Greater than 400 red blood cells in the cerebral spinal fluid

Time frame: Data is obtained within 1 hour when the lab reports the results of the CSF analysis

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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