Abstract

GRILLE, Pedro; SALLE, Federico  and  BIESTRO, Alberto. External lumbar drainage in the ICU. Update and guidelines for the clinical handling. Rev. Méd. Urug. [online]. 2020, vol.36, n.4, pp.156-184.  Epub Dec 01, 2020. ISSN 0303-3295.  https://doi.org/10.29193/rmu.36.4.8.

The placement of an external lumbar drainage (ELD), an invasive procedure to extract cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from the spinal space, has gradually increased in practice in recent years within the context of neurocritical medicine. Despite it not being recommended by international guidelines or consensus, it is used for the handling of a few specific clinical situations in connection with different types of severe brain injury. The study consists of a non-systematic review of the literature, along with the authors’ experience, presenting the main current indications and details for its handling in the different clinical scenarios and describing side effects and complications of the procedure.

Keywords : External lumbar drainage; Subarachnoid hemorrhage; Cerebrospinal fluid drainage; Intracranial hypertension.

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