title: Safety and acceptability of the research lumbar puncture.
abstract: Three hundred forty-two subjects underwent 428 research lumbar punctures for studies of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Subjects were 67 Alzheimer disease or mild cognitive impairment (AD/MCI) patients and 275 cognitively normal adults aged 21 to 88. Lumbar puncture was performed in the lateral decubitus or sitting position using the Sprotte 24 g atraumatic spinal needle. Up to 34 ml of cerebrospinal fluid were collected. Anxiety and pain experienced during lumbar puncture were rated on a visual analog scale. The frequency of any adverse event (11.7%), clinically significant adverse events (3.97%), and typical post-lumbar puncture headache (PLPHA) (0.93%) was low. Risk of post-lumbar puncture headache was unrelated to age, gender, position during lumbar puncture, ml of cerebrospinal fluid collected, or minutes of recumbent rest following lumbar puncture. The frequency of post-lumbar puncture headache was lower in AD/MCI (P = 0.03) than any other subject group. Anxiety and pain ratings were low. Younger subjects reported more anxiety than old (P = 0.001) and AD/MCI subjects (P = 0.008) and more pain than older normal subjects (P = 0.013). Pain ratings for women were higher than those for men (P = 0.006). Using the Sprotte 24 g spinal needle, research lumbar puncture can be performed with a very low rate of clinically significant adverse events and with good acceptability in cognitively impaired persons and cognitively normal adults of all ages.
authors.affiliation: VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98108, USA. peskind@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Elaine R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Peskind
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riekse
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaye
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Martin R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Farlow
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decarli
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chabal
authors.forename: Darcy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vavrek
authors.forename: Murray A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Raskind
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Galasko
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D013129:Spinal Puncture / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers