An Observational Study of 2,248 Patients Presenting With Headache, Suggestive of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage, Who Received Lumbar Punctures Following Normal Computed Tomography of the Head.

OBJECTIVES

The objective was to determine the incidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) diagnosed by lumbar puncture (LP) when the head computed tomography (CT) was reported as demonstrating no subarachnoid blood.

METHODS

Data were obtained on patients who received LP to diagnose or exclude SAH attending six hospitals over 5 years. Subsequent investigations and outcomes were reviewed in all patients with LPs that did not exclude SAH.

RESULTS

A total of 2,248 patients were included. A total of 1,898 LPs were suitable for biochemical analysis, of which 92 (4.8%) were positive for blood, suggesting SAH; 1,507 (79.4%) were negative; and 299 (15.6%) were inconclusive. Of the 92 patients with positive cerebrospinal fluid analysis, eight patients (0.4%) had aneurysms on further imaging, and one had a carotid cavernous fistula.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients presenting to the emergency department with acute severe headache, LP to diagnose or exclude SAH after negative head CT has a very low diagnostic yield, due to low prevalence of the disease and uninterpretable or inconclusive samples. A clinical decision rule may improve diagnostic yield by selecting patients requiring further evaluation with LP following nondiagnostic or normal noncontrast CT brain imaging.