CASE REPORTS   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 1998 December;42(4):233-7

Copyright © 1998 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Extradural haematoma complicating lumbar puncture following a craniotomy. A case report

Mohanty A. ¹, Vasudev M. K. ², Chandra P. S. ¹

¹ Departments of Neurosurgery, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India; ² Department of Neuroradiology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India

Background. This ­case ­report illus­trates ­the devel­op­ment of an intra­cra­ni­al extrad­u­ral hae­mat­o­ma (­EDH) as an uncom­mon com­pli­ca­tion of a lum­bar punc­ture.
Clinical pres­en­ta­tion. A 10-­year-­old ­girl oper­at­ed ­for ­intra-­third ven­tric­u­lar cys­ti­cer­co­sis devel­oped ­postlum­bar punc­ture head­ache ­after a drain­age lum­bar punc­ture (LP) on ­the 7th ­post-oper­a­tive ­day. CT scan ­revealed a ­right fron­tal ­EDH ­away ­from ­the oper­a­tive ­site.
Intervention. The ­child ­was man­aged con­ser­va­tive­ly in ­view of ­her pre­served sen­sor­i­um.
Results. The ­child ­had an unevent­ful recov­ery. Follow-up CT ­scans ­showed res­o­lu­tion of ­the hae­mat­o­ma.
Conclusions. LP, ­though con­sid­ered to be a ­safe pro­ce­dure, ­may rare­ly be asso­ciat­ed ­with a poten­tial­ly ­lethal intra­cra­ni­al hae­mat­o­ma, ­which ­can be man­aged suc­cess­ful­ly if diag­nosed at an ear­ly ­stage.