[The relief of postspinal headache using the Whitacre cannula. A clinical study]

In a prospective study spinal anesthesia was performed in 500 patients (338 male and 162 female patients between 16 and 91 years of age: mean 46 years), with a total number of 603 spinal anesthetics. In all cases a 22G Whitacre needle was used. All patients were mobilized from the day of the operation onward and visited 4 days later by the interviewer and asked about any symptoms, especially headache. Mild postspinal headache occurred in 11 cases (1.8% of total), all in patients younger than 50 years of age and more in women. There were 6 patients among the 11 who did not need specific therapy their headache; for the others antipyretic analgesics, adequate hydration and/or bedrest were satisfactory. The study shows that the incidence of postspinal headache was significantly reduced by the use of Whitacre's pencil-point needle in comparison with findings reported in the literature.