Comparison of Ultrasound-assisted Lumbar Puncture with Lumbar Puncture using Palpation of Landmarks in Aged Patients in an Emergency Center.
- Author:
Yong Chul CHO
1
;
Do Hyun KOO
;
Se Kwang OH
;
Won Joon JEONG
;
Won Suk LEE
;
Yeon Ho YOU
;
Seung RYU
;
Jin Woong LEE
;
Seung Whan KIM
;
In Sool YOO
Author Information
1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea. emd@hanmail.net
- Publication Type:Original Article ; Randomized Controlled Trial
- Keywords:
Ultrasonography;
Spinal puncture;
Aged
- MeSH:
Aged;
Emergencies;
Humans;
Palpation;
Prospective Studies;
Spinal Puncture
- From:Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2009;20(3):304-309
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
PURPOSE: We evaluated the utility of ultrasound-assisted lumbar puncture (UALP) in aged patients who visited our emergency center. METHODS:This was a prospective, randomized, controlled study. From July to December 2007 we enrolled patients who were at least 60 years of age . Patients were divided into a group that had lumbar puncture (LP) using landmark palpation (group A) and a UALP group (group B). We did between-group comparisons for the number of attempts, procedure time, the number of LP failures, and whether traumatic LP was done. For all hypotheses, a significance level of 0.05 was used. Variables are reported as percentages and mean +/-standard deviation. RESULTS: We enrolled sixty aged patients: 30 in group A and 30 in group B. There were 5 cases of LP failure in group A and none in group B (p<0.05). There were 6 cases of traumatic lumbar puncture in group A, and one case in group B (p=0.05). The number of attempts was 3.3+/-2.4 in group A and 1.5+/-0.8 in group B (p<0.05). It took 10.6+/-7.7 minutes to finish each LP in group A compared to 5.3+/-4.2 minutes in group B (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The use of ultrasound-assisted lumbar puncture significantly reduces the number of failures, the number of attempts, and the procedure time in aged patients.
