Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40676358›Full record

ArticleActa neurochirurgica2025

Multicentre study of the role of lumbar puncture in the diagnosis of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Daniel Thompson, Sara Venturini, Peter C Whitfield, Peter Hutchinson, Nihal Gurusinghe, Rikin Trivedi, Adel Helmy, LP for SAH diagnosis research collaborative

Erratum issuedAbstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Acta neurochirurgica, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Daniel ThompsonDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. dt558@cam.ac.uk.
Sara VenturiniDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. sv465@cam.ac.uk.
Peter C WhitfieldDepartment of Neurosurgery, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth, UK.
Peter HutchinsonDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Nihal GurusingheDepartment of Neurosurgery, Royal Preston Hospital, Preston, England.
Rikin TrivediDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Adel HelmyDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
LP for SAH diagnosis research collaborative

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study identified the proportion of spontaneous subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) patients diagnosed by Lumbar Puncture (LP). Furthermore reporting the incidence of aneurysmal SAH if a CT scan performed within 6 h was reported as negative, and finally investigated if there has been a change in practice since the new NICE guidance for the diagnosis of SAH was published in November 2022.

methodsA pragmatic multicentre audit was conducted in the UK and Ireland capturing referrals to 25 Neurosurgical centres between 1st November 2020-31st October 2023. Case referral identification was done in each unit using local medical records and referral databases based on local protocols.

results10,187 cases of spontaneous SAH were diagnosed within the study period: 9,357 were diagnosed by CT and 717 by LP. 7% of all confirmed SAH cases underwent lumbar punctures to return a diagnosis of spontaneous SAH when a CT head scan was non-diagnostic. This yielded 213 (3%) diagnoses of aneurysmal SAH. 55 cases(1%) of aneurysmal SAH initially had negative CT head scans within 6 h of ictus and a positive LP. We did not identify any evidence of a change in practice following the introduction of the NICE guidance in November 2022.

conclusionThis study shows that LP continues to be an important diagnostic test that will confirm a diagnosis of aneurysmal SAH in a small, but significant number of patients with thunderclap headache. We provide new data that may impact the current NICE guidelines on the diagnosis of SAH.

Indexed as

Spinal PunctureSubarachnoid HemorrhageAdultAgedFemaleHumansIrelandMaleMiddle AgedPractice Guidelines as TopicTomography, X-Ray ComputedUnited KingdomCerebral aneurysmLumbar punctureSubarachnoid haemorrhage

Identifiers

PMID40676358
PMCPMC12270960

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