Lumbar puncture and dural sinus thrombosis--a causal or casual association?
Patrícia Canhão1, Paulo Batista, Filipa Falcão
1Neurology Department, Hospital de Santa Maria, PT-1649 Lisboa, Portugal. pcanhao@fm.ul.pt
Background:
A few cases of cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) were reported after a lumbar puncture (LP), suggesting a causal association. The purpose of our study was to document that LP might predispose to CVT by decreasing blood flow velocities (BFV) in veins or dural sinus.
Methods:
We performed a transcranial Doppler ultrasound study to register the mean BFV of the straight sinus (SS) before, during and after LP.
Results:
Thirteen patients were studied. LP induced a decrease of 47% of mean BFV in the SS. The mean decrease of BFV was significant immediately at the end (p = 0.003), 30 min after (p = 0.015) and more than 6 h after LP (p = 0.008).
Conclusions:
LP induced a sustained decrease of mean BFV in the SS. The decrease of venous blood flow is a possible mechanism contributing to the occurrence of CVT.
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