A Hadassah University Medical Center study, which demonstrated the benefits of using a novel needle for spinal fluid sampling, was highlighted in the December 2011 issue of the British Journal of Anesthesia.
The article, authored by Dr. Yehuda Ginosar of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine and Prof. Tamir Ben-Hur, head of Hadassah’s Department of Neurology, along with Dr. Yoav Smith of the Genomic Data Analysis Unit at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School, and American Student Jordana Lovett, supports the use of a 22 G spinal needle with a tapered 27 G pencil-point tip for spinal fluid extraction. Traditionally, the authors note, “parallel-walled spinal needles <22 G are used for lumbar punctures, despite a reported greater than 32 percent incidence of post-dural puncture headache.” The researchers had hypothesized that despite the smaller puncture hole with their tapered spinal needle, the needle would have similar cerebrospinal fluid pressure equilibration times. The researchers concluded that “a 22/27 G tapered spinal needle has similar flow properties to the 22 G needle, despite a 27 G tip.”
Ms. Lovett is the granddaughter of Hadassah supporters Alma and Burt Krull of the Brooklyn Region of Hadassah. She is now working toward her PhD in molecular biology at the City University of New York. Click here to read the abstract in the British Journal of Anesthesia. <http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/12/11/bja.aer372.abstract>
