Incidence and Effect of Traumatic Lumbar Puncture in the Neonate

Abstract

The incidence of non-traumatic, traumatic and unsuccessful lumbar punctures in 181 neonates was similar whether a needle with a stylet, a butterfly needle without stylet, or a standard venipuncture needle without stylet was used. Comparison of 20 lumbar puncture pairs in 17 patients showed that traumatic lumbar puncture does not result in a CSF pleocytosis between 2 and 13 days after initial traumatic lumbar puncture.