Revista española de anestesiología y reanimación
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Rev Esp Anestesiol Reanim · Dec 2004
Review[Effectiveness of epidural administration of saline solutions to prevent or treat postdural puncture headache].
Epidural anesthesia is the most versatile and widely used of the techniques for regional anesthesia. The most common complication of epidural or spinal anesthesia is postdural puncture headache. The loss of cerebrospinal fluid through the hole can be an important causative factor of this cephalalgia. ⋯ The studies had small samples and most did not include a control group. The doses and methods of epidural administration of saline solutions were highly variable and the results were often contradictory. We conclude that using this technique to prevent and/or treat postdural puncture headache is difficult to justify.