Prospective evaluation of point-of-care ultrasound for pre-procedure identification of landmarks versus traditional palpation for lumbar puncture
10.5847/wjem.j.1920-8642.2016.03.002
- Author:
Lahham SHADI
1
;
Schmalbach PRIEL
;
Wilson P. SEAN
;
Ludeman LORI
;
Subeh MOHAMMAD
;
Chao JOCELYN
;
Albadawi NADEEM
;
Mohammadi NIKI
;
Fox C. JOHN
Author Information
1. Emergency Medicine
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Ultrasound;
Lumbar puncture;
Spinal tap
- From:
World Journal of Emergency Medicine
2016;7(3):173-177
- CountryChina
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to determine if point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) pre-procedure identification of landmarks can decrease failure rate, reduce procedural time, and decrease the number of needle redirections and reinsertions when performing a lumbar puncture (LP).METHODS: This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial comparing POCUS pre-procedure identifi cation of landmarks versus traditional palpation for LP in a cohort of patients in the emergency department and intensive care unit.RESULTS: A total of 158 patients were enrolled. No signifi cant difference was found in time to completion, needle re-direction, or needle re-insertion when using POCUS when compared to the traditional method of palpation.CONCLUSION: Consistent with fi ndings of previous studies, our data indicate that there was no observed benefi t of using POCUS to identify pre-procedure landmarks when performing an LP.
