Pencil-point needles shine in spinal anaesthesia and lumbar puncture!

Pencil-point 25-gauge spinal needles show a lower incidence of post-dural puncture headache compared to traditional cutting bevel needles in obstetric patients undergoing cesarean section, a study published in the National Journal of Physiology Pharmacy and Pharmacology elucidated.

Spinal anaesthesia is a widely used regional technique, but it can cause post-dural puncture headaches (PDPH) due to cerebrospinal fluid loss, which can be mitigated by modifying needle shape and size, especially in young mothers post-cesarean.

This study aimed to compare the incidence of PDPH in obstetric patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia using cutting versus pencil-point spinal needles to determine which results in fewer PDPH cases.

This one-year double-blind study included women undergoing elective cesarean section. The incidence of PDPH was compared via 25-gauge pencil-point and 25-gauge cutting bevel spinal needles. One hundred and twenty patients were allocated to Group A (pencil-point needle) or Group B (cutting bevel needle), with 60 patients in each group. Group A showed a PDPH incidence of 3.3%, whereas Group B had an incidence of 10.8%, while pain sensitivity was generally found to be mild in Group A and ranged from mild to severe in Group B.

The use of 25-gauge pencil-point spinal needles was associated with a lower incidence of PDPH compared to traditional cutting 25-gauge needles in obstetric patients undergoing c-sections, suggesting the preference for pencil-point needles to lower PDPH risk in this population during spinal anaesthesia.