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NEUROSURGICAL ANESTHESIA

Epidural Blood Patch for Headache After Lumboperitoneal Shunt Placement

Leonard R. Allmond, MD^*, Greg Stratmann, MD, PhD^*, Sandeep M. Kunwar, MD, and Daniel H. Burkhardt, MD^*

Department of *Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and Neurological Surgery, The University of California at San Francisco

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Leonard R. Allmond, MD, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, S-436, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143-0427. Address e-mail to l_allmond{at}yahoo.com.

Headaches complicating lumboperitoneal (LP) shunt placement have been attributed to shunt failure with resultant high intracranial pressure or to overdrainage with resultant low intracranial pressure. In this case, a 17-yr-old girl had symptoms of a low-pressure headache after LP shunt placement alleviated by an epidural blood patch. The success of this therapy suggests postdural puncture as a possible cause for low-pressure headache after LP shunt placement. Epidural blood patch may be an alternative initial therapy for some low-pressure headaches after LP shunt placement.