OBJECTIVE To analyse the outpatient management of selected febrile infants younger than 90 days without systematic lumbar puncture and antibiotics. METHODS A prospective registry-based cohort study including all the infants ≤90 days with fever without a source (FWS) who were evaluated in a paediatric emergency department (ED) over a 7-year period (September 2007-August 2014). We analysed the ...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Thrombocytopenia and the increasing use and variety of antithrombotic drugs is a challenge prior to lumbar puncture. This study examined the Danish haematology practice regarding drug pausation, assessment of haemostasis and whether fundoscopy is a routine safety measure. METHODS An online survey with questions pertaining to precautions of haemostasis and application of fundos...

OBJECTIVE It is frequently thought that lumbar puncture (LP), is a mandatory procedure in all children who have fever and a seizure; because a convulsion may be the sole clinical manifestations of bacterial meningitis. To assess whether meningitis could be recognized using readily available clinical information. METHODS This study was done during a 4 yr period from 2002-2006. A total of 254 p...

OBJECTIVE This study aims to determine the sensitivity of modern computed tomography (CT) scanners in detecting subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and to determine whether there is a continued need for lumbar puncture to exclude the diagnosis. METHODS This retrospective study was conducted from January 2000 to December 2005. The study population consisted of all patients referred on suspicion of S...

Should Lumbar Puncture Be Part of the Routine Evaluation of Patients with Cerebral Ischemia? To the Editor: 1 read with interest the recommendations of the Cerebral Embolism Study Group on the treatment of stroke due to cardiac emboli (Stroke 15:779-789. 1984). The authors state that they do not routinely recommend cerebrospinal examination prior to anticoagulation. I disagree. Failure to perfo...

Correspondence When to do a lumbar puncture in a neonate Sir, We enjoyed Dr Halliday's annotation on neonatal lumbar puncture but felt that his discussion of the role of lumbar puncture in suspected sepsis left an unfortunate question mark hanging over this procedure.' It is important we feel to distinguish between early onset and late onset sepsis. In early onset sepsis the usual route of infe...