Headache Post spinal headache with nausea is the most common complication; it often responds to pain medications and infusion of fluids. It was long taught that this complication can be prevented by strict maintenance of a supine posture for two hours after the successful<unk> ; this has not been borne out in modern studies involving large numbers of people. Doing the procedure with the person on their side might decrease the risk. Intravenous caffeine injection is often quite effective in aborting these spinal headaches. A headache that is persistent despite a long period of bedrest and occurs only when sitting up may be indicative of a CSF leak from the<unk>  site. It can be treated by more bedrest, or by an epidural blood patch, where the person's own blood is injected back into the site of leakage to cause a clot to form and seal off the leak. The risk of headache and need for analgesia and blood patch is much reduced if "atraumatic" needles are used. This does not affect the success rate of the procedure in other ways. Although the cost and difficulty are similar, adoption remains low - only 16% ca. 2014. Other Contact between the side of the<unk>  needle and a spinal nerve root can result in anomalous sensations (paresthesia) in a leg during the procedure; this is harmless and people can be warned about it in advance to minimize their anxiety if it should occur. Serious complications of a properly performed<unk>  are extremely rare. They include spinal or epidural bleeding, adhesive arachnoiditis and trauma to the spinal cord or spinal nerve roots resulting in weakness or loss of sensation, or even paraplegia. The latter is exceedingly rare, since the level at which the spinal cord ends (normally the inferior border of L1, although it is slightly lower in infants) is several vertebral spaces above the proper location for a<unk>  (L3/L4). There are case reports of<unk>  resulting in perforation of abnormal dural arterio-venous malformations, resulting in catastrophic epidural hemorrhage; this is exceedingly rare. The procedure is not recommended when epidural infection is present or suspected, when topical infections or dermatological conditions pose a risk of infection at the<unk>  site or in patients with severe psychosis or neurosis with back pain. Some authorities believe that withdrawal of fluid when initial pressures are abnormal could result in spinal cord compression or cerebral herniation; others believe that such events are merely coincidental in time, occurring independently as a result of the same pathology that the<unk>  was performed to diagnose. In any case, computed tomography of the brain is often performed prior to<unk>  if an intracranial mass is suspected.
Lumbar puncture
Ultrasound-guided lumbar puncture
Brain biopsy
Hemoencephalography
Cranioscopy
CSF tap test
Meningeal biopsy
Intracranial pressure monitoring