The Complication after Lumbar Puncture in Patients in Children and Adolescents

Jung, Jae won; Park, Jin Sung; You, Su Jeong

Abstract

PURPOSE
Children and adolescents develop different kinds of complication, such as back pain or headache after lumbar puncture. But there are few researches about complications after lumbar puncture. So we investigated the incidence of complications and the factors that might influence the occurrence of complications.
METHODS
We reviewed the medical record of 101 patients who have conducted lumbar puncture because they were suspected of meningitis between April 2008 and August 2008 at Sanggye Paik Hospital. We evaluated for the existence of complications and the factors that might influence postlumbar complications.
RESULTS
The total incidence of complications was 58 of 101(57.4%) patients. The complications were as followed; backache(47/101, 46.5%), headache(16/101, 15.8%), leg pain (14/101, 13.9%), nausea and vomiting(5/101, 5%) and dizziness(3/101, 3%). There was no significant correlation between various factors and the occurrence of the complications. But patients who had conducted lumbar puncture with 21-gauge or 22-gauge suffered longer duration of backache than 24-gauge cannula.
CONCLUSION
The occurrence of complications after lumbar puncture was 57.4% and the complications were various, for example, backache, headache, leg pain and so on. Patient's age, gender, disposable puncture needle, and character of CSF(cerebrospinal fluid) were not correlated to the occurrence and duration of complications. But patients who had conducted lumbar puncture with large gauge cannula suffered longer duration of backache.