Psychopharmacol Bull
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Psychopharmacol Bull · Oct 2020
ReviewEpidural Blood Patch does not Contribute to the Development of Chronic Low Back Pain in Patients who Undergo Lumbar Punctures: A Pilot Study.
Post dural puncture headache (PDPH) is a known and relatively common complication which may occur in the setting of patients undergoing lumbar punctures (LP) for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, and is commonly treated with an epidural blood patch (EBP). There have been few publications regarding the long-term safety of EBP for the treatment of PDPH. ⋯ Our findings suggest that dural puncture patients undergoing EBP do not experience low back pain with increased frequency compared to dural puncture patients not undergoing EBP. Higher prevalence of LBP compared to baseline and compared to general population was seen in both groups. However, this pilot study is limited by a small sample size and no definitive conclusion can be drawn from this observation. The findings of this study should spur further prospective research into identifying potential associations between LP, EBP and chronic low back pain.
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Psychopharmacol Bull · Oct 2020
Long-Term Outcomes of Post Dural Puncture Headache Treated With Epidural Blood Patch: A Pilot Study.
Post dural puncture headache (PDPH) is a known complication which may occur in the setting of patients undergoing lumbar punctures (LP) for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. The gold standard for treating a PDPH is an epidural blood patch (EBP). There have been few publications evaluating the long-term outcomes of PDPH treated with EBP. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the incidence of chronic headaches in dural puncture patients who received EBP versus those who did not. ⋯ This pilot study demonstrates that patients who received an EBP for treatment of a PDPH following LP are no more likely to experience chronic headaches compared to patients who do not receive an EBP. However, both the EBP group and Non-EBP group had high incidence of chronic headaches which may be related to dural puncture or a baseline trait of this cohort given the recall bias. There is a suggestion that tinnitus could be a long-term residual symptom of PDPH treated with EBP.