Whitacre LP needles

[True Anomaly]

Anyone had any experience using these for LP's?  They apparently have been shown to have statistical significance with reducing the occurrence of post-dural headaches.  I used one yesterday for the first time, and holy s*** I could barely get the needle through the outer skin, let alone through the dura- it felt like it was going to bend and snap in two.  Felt so much weaker than a more traditional spinal needle.  After a time I threw up the white flag and the doc I was with used the regular spinal needle in the kit and got it in less than a minute (go figure).

 

When we started stocking these needles a couple months ago, our group had a little debate about how flimsy they were and other folks weren't happy about using them, but there was an idea floated to try introducing an 18-ga catheter in to act as a sort of guide that you could insert the Whitacre into.

 

Has anyone had any experience with these?  Here's a photo of what the tip looks like compared to more traditional spinal needles:

 

[medic25]

I haven't used the Whitacre, but I do sometimes use the Gertie Marx which I believe is fairly similar (atraumatic pencil-point tip, side port).  It took some getting used to; as you said, they are a lot weaker and feel pretty flimsy.  Our needles have a more rigid introducer needle externally as part of the setup, with the actual LP needle inside like a trochar.  You use the rigid needle to puncture the skin and the initial tissue, then start advancing the more flexible atraumatic needle for the actual puncture. 

After getting used to it, I've had fairly good success with it.  That being said, I'll always have my traditional Quinke needle on the tray; if it isn't working with the atraumatic needle, I go back to the old standard and use what I know works.

 

http://www.imd-inc.com/lumbarmyelograms.php

[True Anomaly]

That's pretty cool that it includes the introducer.  Guess I'll have to try with the 18-gauge faux-introducer and just keep the Quinke at the ready just in case