A survey of lumbar punctures performed in adults in a district general hospital over a two year period was carried out. As well as being used for conventional, specific indications, lumbar puncture was often employed as a screening investigation in undiagnosed neurological illness. Although this was not inappropriate in patients with meningeal symptoms and signs, or patients with disordered con...

BACKGROUND Percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) has been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of osteoporotic fracture. The bilateral pedicular approach is the most frequently used method. However, unilateral PVP is becoming increasingly more attractive for surgeons because of its numerous benefits, including lower radiation exposure, less tissue injury, and less bone cement leakage. The ...

That lumbar puncture is detrimental in multiple sclerosis has been taught for many years; the origin of this belief and the evidence on which it is based are difficult to trace. The general warnings sometimes given in text-book accounts of contraindications to lumbar puncture in this disease appear to depend chiefly on the familiar experience of an occasional instance in which clinical deterior...