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A Possible Hazard of Lumbar Puncture in an Alcoholic

David Dunn, MD; Vasant Dhopesh, MD; Jalal Mobini, MD

JAMA. 1979;241(16):1712-1713.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

A RARE, but serious, complication of lumbar puncture is the production of a spinal subdural hematoma with resulting damage to the cord and roots. The importance of thrombocytopenia, usually associated with malignancy, in the formation of these hematomas was emphasized in a recent review in which it was present in nine of 12 patients.¹ Alcoholism, a common problem, can cause thrombocytopenia,² and in a chronic alcoholic can be an unsuspected hazard of lumbar puncture, as in the patient described in this report.

Report of a Case

A severely debilitated, 37-year-old female alcoholic was admitted to the hospital because of fever, heart murmur, tetany, and tremulousness. No history or clinical evidence of a blood dyscrasia was noted. The prothrombin time and the partial thromboplastin time were normal.

After admission, she had a cardiac arrest but was successfully resuscitated.

She was lethargic and disoriented, and because of the possibility of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Pathology (Drs Dunn and Mobini) and Neurology (Drs Dunn and Dhopesh), Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Department of Pathology, Medical College of Pennsylvania, 3300 Henry Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19129 (Dr Dunn).

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