In medical practice, a lumbar or spinal puncture is performed in order to clarify the diagnosis, study the spinal cord fluid or introduce medications into it. The procedure is considered to be minimally invasive and is therefore usually performed under local anesthesia.
Carrying out the procedure of spinal puncture
Manipulation is performed in a sitting or lying position, more often in the latter. The patient's legs must be bent and pressed to the stomach, and the back is maximally curved. For convenience, you can grab your knees with your hands.
The intake of cerebrospinal fluid is made between 3 and 4 lumbar vertebrae at a depth of 4-7 cm, its volume is up to 120 ml. As the needle is inserted, local anesthesia is administered with a solution of novocaine (1-2%).
After the procedure, you need to lie on your stomach and hold in this position for about 2 hours. Painful sensation due to manipulation is after 5-7 days without special therapy.
Indications for spinal puncture
The event is designed to diagnose diseases of the central nervous system:
- encephalitis ;
- neurosyphilis;
- meningitis;
- Neuroinfections of various origin;
- fungal and viral diseases;
- hemorrhages (subarachnoidal) around the membrane of the brain;
- Guillain-Barre syndrome;
- inflammatory states of the central nervous system;
- multiple sclerosis ;
- malignant tumors of the spinal cord and brain.
Also spinal puncture is used for medicinal purposes:
- introduction of antibiotic drugs and chemotherapeutic drugs into the subshell;
- decrease in intracranial pressure with progressive normotensive hydrocephalus and intracranial hypertension;
- an excessive amount of cerebrospinal fluid;
- the need to perform spinal anesthesia;
- investigation of the composition and density of the cerebrospinal fluid.
Complications and consequences of spinal puncture
When an inexperienced specialist performing the procedure, the epithelial skin cells may enter the spinal cord. Because of this, post-puncture choleastom develops.
Also, some people after the manipulation of headache, dizziness and nausea, accompanied by vomiting. Sometimes hypersensitivity of the skin in the region of the lower back and thighs is added. Such clinical manifestations do not presuppose therapy, they pass by themselves.