Efficacy of the Epidural Blood Patch for the Treatment of Post Epidural Puncture Headache

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the epidural blood patch for the treatment of post-Dural puncture headache (PDPH).
Patients and Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive care, Nishtar Hospital Multan. Out of total 326 patients, 186 were male 140 were female. Patients having age 16 years and above, presented with PDPH started from previous 24 hours up to last six days were included in the study. Efficacy of treatment was measured on patients comment about relief from pain after PDPH. Chi-Square along with Fisher exact test was used to see effect modification.
Results: Overall, there were 326 (100%) patients in this study, among them 57% (n=186) were males and 43% (n=140) were females. ASA-1 and ASA-2 noted as 73.3% and 26.7% respectively. The main outcome of this study was efficacy of treatment. It was observed that after 1st patch, efficacy was noted as good in 75.8% (n=247) patients, while after 2nd patch it was good in 97.5% (n=318) patients. There was significant difference between the efficacy of 1st and 2nd patch. (P value=0.000), according to Fisher exact test.
Conclusion"Results of our study concluded that epidural blood patch (EDBP) is the better choice for treatment of epidural puncture headache (EDPH). If one time it is incompletely effective its 2nd patch can be considered.