Severe, Acute Meningeal Irritative Reaction After Epidural Blood Patch:

Fever following an Epidural Blood Patch in a Child

There is increasing evidence that children suffer from the consequences of spontaneous or iatrogenic intracranial hypotension. Pediatric epidural blood patch is gaining popularity because of its ability to alter cerebrospinal fluid dynamics and to alleviate headaches attributed to low cerebrospinal fluid pressure. There is, however, still not enough data to document the safety profile of an epidural blood patch. Here we describe a case of a fever in a child temporally related to the administration of an epidural blood patch. This case depicts the dilemmas in making the diagnosis and instituting treatment for complications of this procedure in the pediatric population.

Postdural puncture headache: the role of prophylactic epidural blood patch

Prophylactic epidural blood patch may prevent postdural puncture headache that develops after intentional or inadvertent dural puncture. However, despite earlier reports that this procedure was of value, subsequent studies have failed to show it has significant advantages over delayed blood patch. Reports that were supportive of this technique were based on nonrandomized observational studies with significant selective bias. At the present time, most centers do not routinely offer prophylactic blood patches, and those that do report a variable success rate. A recent case study of permanent neurologic deficit after prophylactic epidural blood patch has also raised some concern about the safety of this prophylactic technique.