title: Whitacre 22-gauge pencil-point needle for spinal anaesthesia. A controlled trial in 300 young orthopaedic patients.
abstract: In a prospective study of 300 young orthopaedic in-patients (less than 40 years) given spinal anaesthesia through a 22-gauge Whitacre (n = 150) or a 25-gauge Quincke spinal needle (n = 150), we found a 5.3% and a 9.3% incidence of post-spinal headache (PSH) respectively. Females (10.6%) had a higher overall incidence of post-spinal headache than males (5.6%) with more than twice as many females being affected in the 25 than in the 22-gauge group (14.5% vs 6.1%). The average duration of post-spinal headache was less in the 22-gauge group (36 h vs 42.4 h) as was the incidence of severe headache. It is concluded that the Whitacre 22-gauge needle is more suited for spinal analgesia in young female patients due to its ease of handling and its lower incidence of post-spinal headache.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Dreifaltigkeitskrankenhaus, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arhelger
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krings-Ernst
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grond
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zech
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000775:Anesthesia, Spinal; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009339:Needles; D009985:Orthopedics; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013129:Spinal Puncture / Q000009:adverse effects*