Studies comparing incidence of post-lumbar puncture headache when using atraumatic and traumatic needles
| Reference | Patient group | Study type | Incidence of post-lumbar puncture headache |
|---|---|---|---|
| Braune and Huffman6 | n=75 | Prospective, double-blind clinical trial | Traumatic needle 36% atraumatic needle 4% |
| Kleyweg et al7 | n=99 traumatic needle=50 atraumatic needle=49 | Double-blind randomised trial | Traumatic needle 32% atraumatic needle 6%, p=0.001 |
| Strupp et al8 | n=230 traumatic needle=115 atraumatic needle=115 | Prospective, randomised, double-blind study | Traumatic needle 24.4% atraumatic needle 12.2%, p<0.05 |
| Torbati et al9 | n=317 traumatic needle=54.6% atraumatic needle=45.4% | Retrospective review | Traumatic needle 11.32% atraumatic needle 4.48%, p=0.017 |
| Luostarinen et al10 | n=78 traumatic needle=39 atraumatic needle=39 | Prospective, randomised study | Traumatic needle 49% atraumatic needle=36%, not significant |
| Vakharia and Lote11 | n=52 traumatic needle=24 atraumatic needle=36 | Retrospective (traumatic needle) and prospective (atraumatic needle) | Traumatic needle 10% atraumatic needle 8%, p<0.01 |
| Jager et al12 | Atraumatic needle=600 | Prospective | Atraumatic needle 3.6% |
| Hammond et al13 | n=187 traumatic needle=130 atraumatic needle=57 | Prospective | Traumatic needle 32% atraumatic needle 19% |
| Thomas et al14 | n=97 traumatic needle=48 atraumatic needle=49 | Double-blind randomised trial | Risk of headache with atraumatic needle reduced by 26% (95% CI 6% to 45%) |
| Lavi et al2 | n=55 traumatic needle=26 atraumatic needle=29 | Prospective, randomised trial | Traumatic needle 36% atraumatic needle 3%, p=0.002 |
| Davis et al5 | n=96 traumatic needle=48 atraumatic needle=48 | Prospective observational study | Traumatic needle 50% atraumatic needle 20.9%, p=0.01 |
This excludes studies of children and patients undergoing either therapeutic lumbar puncture or epidural anaesthesia.