Cervical dural puncture and lumbar extradural blood patch.

The authors report the successful treatment of post-dural puncture headache, consequent to a cervical dural puncture, with a lumbar extradural blood patch. The increase in intracranial pressure generated by the injection of autologous blood in the extradural space seems to be the likely mechanism for the prompt relief of post-dural puncture headache. We conclude that extradural injection of autologous blood at the same level of the dural puncture may not be necessary.