Low cerebrospinal fluid volume and the risk for post-lumbar puncture headaches

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is essential for the medical workup of patients with neurological conditions and for disease-modifying clinical trials. Post- lumbar puncture (LP) headache is influenced by both operator and patient-related factors, including needle type and gauge, age, and gender.

We aimed to assess whether CSF volume measured based on pre-procedural brain MRI is associated with the risk of developing a post-LP headache.

In total, n = 117 participants (n = 58 Parkinson's disease patients, and n = 59 healthy controls) underwent an LP and CSF collection. Of those, n = 89 underwent MRI scans prior to the LP procedure acquiring high-resolution 3D magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo (MP-RAGE) T1-weighted images using a 3 T MR scanner. Clinical and behavioral assessments were performed for all participants, and CSF was assessed for content. The T1-weighted images were segmented producing gray matter, white matter, and CSF probability maps.

Thirteen participants (11.1%) experienced post-LP headache. They were younger (p = .033) and had lower CSF volumes (p = .040) compared to participants that did not develop a post LP headache.

The results of this pilot study suggest that low CSF volumes might increase the risk for the occurrence of post-LP adverse events and should be taken into consideration when planning LP's.