Background. The causes of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) are manifold as is its clinical presentation. Case. We report the case of a CVT following lumbar puncture and intravenous glucocorticosteroid therapy in a female adolescent with a clinically isolated syndrome and risk factors for thrombosis. Conclusion. In adolescent patients with acute inflammatory disease undergoing lumbar puncture fo...

Use of an epidural blood patch to treat spinal headache after accidental dural puncture is well recognized. The high success rate associated with this practice has been questioned and it is not uncommon for patients to suffer recurring headaches after a supposedly successful blood patch. We describe a patient in labour who suffered accidental dural puncture, and whose headache was treated twice...

OBJECTIVE Unsuspected idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is found in a significant minority of patients attending clinics with named headache syndromes, if it is specifically sought out. Chronic fatigue syndrome is frequently associated with headache. Could the same be true of chronic fatigue? Moreover, there are striking similarities between the two conditions. Could they be related? A...

BACKGROUND Headache is a common complication of lumbar puncture (LP). Although in most cases post-LP headaches are not severe and have a benign course, they can also be a manifestation of a potentially life-threatening complication such as subdural hematoma (SDH). CASE REPORT We describe a patient in whom a massive SDH developed after LP and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage, which were perf...

This clinical policy from the American College of Emergency Physicians is an update of a 2002 clinical policy on the evaluation and management of adult patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute, nontraumatic headache. A writing subcommittee reviewed the literature to derive evidence-based recommendations to help clinicians answer the following 5 critical questions: (1) Doe...

[This retracts the article on p. 45 in vol. 5, PMID: 22287846.].

Spinal headache is an occasional, but painful complication of epidural injection procedures due to dural puncture that allows leakage of CSF from the thecal sac, thereby reducing intracranial pressure. In the event of failure of conservative management, (e.g. abdominal binder, fluids, acetaminophen), an epidural blood patch is often used. This case report describes a patient with spinal headach...

Equal volumes (2.5 ml, 12.5 mg) of plain 0.5% bupivacaine (glucose-free) and hyperbaric 0.5% bupivacaine (in 8% glucose) were compared in a randomized double-blind study of 40 patients undergoing Caesarean section under subarachnoid anaesthesia. There were no differences in the rate of onset, maximum spread, number of patients with high cervical levels, duration of anaesthesia or incidence of p...

Post-lumbar puncture (LP) headache may be due to "low CSF pressure", leading to stretching of pain sensitive intracranial structures. The low intracranial pressure is secondary to net loss of intracranial CSF. It has, however, not been possible to measure intracranial CSF volume accurately during life until recently. Intracranial CSF volume can now be measured non-invasively by a MRI technique....