lumbar puncture

(noun)

A diagnostic and at times therapeutic procedure performed to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for biochemical, microbiological, and cytological analysis, or rarely to relieve increased intracranial pressure.

Related Terms

  • meningitis
  • meninges

Examples of lumbar puncture in the following topics:

  • Specimen Collection

    • A lumbar puncture (or LP, and colloquially known as a spinal tap) is performed to collecte CSF.
    • This consists of the insertion of a hollow needle beneath the arachnoid membrane of the spinal cord in the lumbar region to withdraw cerebrospinal fluid for diagnostic purposes or to administer medication.
  • Meningitis

    • A lumbar puncture diagnoses or excludes meningitis.
  • Tetanus

    • Infection generally occurs through wound contamination and often involves a cut or deep puncture wound.
    • The rough surface of rusty metal merely provides a prime habitat for a C. tetani endospore to reside, and the nail affords a means to puncture skin and deliver endospore into the wound.
    • Hence, stepping on a nail, rusty or not, may result in a tetanus infection, as the low-oxygen (anaerobic) environment is provided by the same object that causes a puncture wound, delivering endospores to a suitable environment for growth.
    • The CDC recommends that adults receive a booster vaccine every ten years, and standard care practice in many places is to give the booster to any patient with a puncture wound who is uncertain of when he or she was last vaccinated, or if he or she has had fewer than three lifetime doses of the vaccine.
  • Diagnosis and Treatment of Allergy

    • Skin testing is also known as "puncture testing" and "prick testing" because of the series of tiny punctures or pricks made in the patient's skin.
  • West Nile Virus

    • The mosquito injects saliva which contains an anesthetic, and an anticoagulant into the puncture wound; and in infected mosquitoes, the West Nile virus.
  • Leishmaniasis

    • Metacyclic promastigotes that reach the puncture wound are phagocytized by macrophages and transform into amastigotes.
  • Virulent Bacteriophages and T4

    • The baseplate changes conformation and the tail sheath contracts causing GP5 at the end of the tail tube to puncture the outer membrane of the cell.
Subjects
  • Accounting
  • Algebra
  • Art History
  • Biology
  • Business
  • Calculus
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Microbiology
  • Physics
  • Physiology
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Sociology
  • Statistics
  • U.S. History
  • World History
  • Writing

Except where noted, content and user contributions on this site are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 with attribution required.