How long does lumbar puncture take

The headache typically starts several hours up to two days after the procedure and may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting and dizziness. The headaches are usually present when sitting or standing and resolve after lying down. Post-lumbar puncture headaches can last from a few hours to a week or more. Brainstem herniation. Increased pressure within the skull intracranial , due to a brain tumor or other space-occupying lesion, can lead to compression of the brainstem after a sample of cerebrospinal fluid is removed.

A computerized tomography CT scan or MRI prior to a lumbar puncture can be obtained to determine if there is evidence of a space-occupying lesion that results in increased intracranial pressure. This complication is rare. Before your lumbar puncture, your doctor, nurse or other health care professional asks questions about your medical history, does a physical exam, and orders blood tests to check for bleeding or clotting disorders.

Your doctor may also recommend a CT scan or MRI to determine if you have any abnormal swelling in or around your brain. Your health care professional will give you specific instructions about food, drink and medications. Tell your doctor or nurse if you're taking blood-thinning or other anticoagulant medications. Examples include warfarin Coumadin, Jantoven , clopidogrel Plavix , and some over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin, ibuprofen Advil, Motrin IB, others or naproxen sodium Aleve.

Also, tell your doctor or nurse if you're allergic to any medications, such as numbing medications local anesthetics. A lumbar puncture is usually done in an outpatient facility or a hospital by a doctor or a nurse. Your doctor or nurse will talk to you about the potential risks, and any discomfort you might feel during the procedure. If a child is having a lumbar puncture, a parent may be allowed to stay in the room in some cases.

Talk to your child's doctor or nurse about whether this will be possible. Less frequently, a lumbar puncture can be done as a means of treatment if a person has too much CSF, and the pressure of the fluid around the brain and spine is too high.

There is no need to stop eating and drinking before the procedure, and you should continue to take any medication as prescribed, unless you have been told otherwise by your doctor. If you are taking any medication to thin your blood anticoagulants it is important that you inform the hospital before your appointment.

An experienced doctor or specially trained nurse will carry out the lumbar puncture. When you arrive for your appointment, the doctor or nurse will explain what is going to happen during the procedure and can answer any questions that you have. You will lie curled up on your side, with your knees pulled into your chest and your back lined up with the edge of the bed. Alternatively, the doctor or nurse may ask you to sit on the bed with your head and shoulders bent forward so that your back curves out.

This numbs the area. Then they insert a very thin needle between two vertebrae spinal bones at the base of your back and through the membrane a thin skin-like layer that surrounds the spinal cord and contains the CSF.

Sometimes, a special x-ray or ultrasound may be used to help the doctor or nurse guide the needle into the right place. Once the needle is in position, the pressure of the CSF is measured and some fluid is collected through the needle.

The amount of CSF taken will depend on whether you are undergoing the procedure for the purpose of an investigation or a treatment. It may be necessary to remove more fluid if the lumbar puncture is being done as treatment for a condition. A lumbar puncture is most often described as uncomfortable. The local anaesthetic injection should prevent you from finding the procedure painful.

In the vertebrae, bones are stacked on top of one another and connected by joints, for flexibility. In between are disks that provide cushioning.

The disks also create little spaces between the bones, spaces that are covered by a thin membrane. When we perform a lumbar puncture, we go through that thin membrane to get to the spinal canal. The brain and the spinal cord are also bathed in and protected by a fluid produced in the brain called cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid can be useful in diagnosing a condition your child may have.

A lumbar puncture is a common procedure in which we ask your child to curl up in a ball, and then we use a special needle to gain access to her spinal canal through her back. This sounds invasive and painful, but while it may feel uncomfortable and some children have headaches afterwards, it feels more like a pinch that lasts a few minutes.

Early detection means that we have a better chance of identifying the cause, can treat her quickly, and decrease the chance of long-term complications. Most often, no special preparation is needed. If your child will have the procedure under sedation, her doctor will give you some preparation guidelines to follow. Before coming to the hospital, explain to your child what will happen during the test and encourage her to ask questions and express her feelings. Sometimes, we use intravenous IV sedation, which makes your child very sleepy.

On rare occasions, the procedure is done under general anesthesia, in an operating room. After the needle is inserted, the doctor attaches a hub with a three-way valve. One opening is connected to a manometer a little tube that measures pressure.

Cerebrospinal fluid rises up the manometer just like mercury or water rises up a barometer in response to atmospheric pressure, and can be measured that way. About 30 minutes. We also ask that your child lie down immediately afterward here at the hospital for several hours before going home. The doctor or nurse who performs the lumbar puncture can often tell you some of the results straight away and explain what they mean. You may need to wait for at least 48 hours for the full results.

Some laboratory test results are available within a couple of hours in an emergency. Page last reviewed: 19 February Next review due: 19 February