Search is unavailable while you are offline.
Sign Up
/
Sign In

You are not connected to the internet and now in offline mode. Only pages or articles you visited while connected will be available.

  1. Virtual Library
  2. Anaesthesia Tutorial of the Week
  3. Effective Management Of The Post Dural Puncture Headache

Get notified when a new tutorial is published!

Obstetrics Anaesthesia

Tutorial 181

Effective Management Of The Post Dural Puncture Headache

Dr Nicola Jane Campbell FRCA

Specialist Training Registrar in Anaesthesia Peninsula Deanery

Correspondence to nicolacampbell@doctors.org.uk

31ST MAY 2010

Abstract

PDPH will resolve spontaneously in the majority of cases
Prevention of PDPH by good insertion techniques with appropriately sized and designed needles is better than cure
Drug treatment is attractive, but no one drug stands out as an effective therapy
If symptoms persist after 24-48 hours, or the headache is disabling, consider an epidural blood patch
The epidural blood patch is an effective treatment but probably not as effective as once thought
Always consider whether the headache is due to a dural puncture and not as a result of more serious pathology

creative commons

This work by WFSA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/