POSTDURAL PUNCTURE HEADACHE - A COMPARISON OF THE SPROTTE AND YALE NEEDLES IN UROLOGICAL SURGERY

One hundred elderly male patients undergoing transurethral surgery wer e allocated randomly to receive spinal anaesthesia with either a 26 ga uge Yale needle or a 24 gauge Sprotte needle. Patients were visited wi thin 48 h by an investigator who was unaware of the needle type used a nd specific enquiry was made about any headache which was characterist ic of dural puncture. We found evidence of a postdural puncture headac he in 15 (30%) patients in whom a 26 gauge Yale needle was used. By co mparison, only three patients (6%) in the Sprotte group reported a pos tdural puncture headache. This represents a highly significant (P<0.00 5) reduction in the incidence of postdural puncture headache. The inci dence of multiple attempts at dural puncture was also significantly (P <0.05) reduced to 16% in the Sprotte group compared with 28% in the Ya le group.