Less traumatic punctures may reduce unnecessary chemotherapy of the patient, and in the long term, it may reduce the risk of secondary cancers later in early adulthood. This can save costs now and in the future.
Knowing that the needle tip is in the right place, you can avoid repeated, inconvenient punctures. Not only for patients with leukemia but also for newborn babies to whom lumbar punctures are particularly challenging.
Let Injeq IQ-Tip® system help you
in pediatric lumbar punctures for treatment of leukemia
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer type diagnosed in children. During the treatment up-to 20 lumbar punctures may be performed on each child according to new European ALLTogether treatment protocol.
During the puncture, the needle tip must be precisely inserted into the spinal canal – neither too deep nor too superficial. At the same time, one should avoid all unnecessary needle movements around nerve roots and blood vessels. It is essential to minimize the risk of bleeding which can allow cancer cells to enter the spinal canal and contaminate central nervous system (CNS). According to Shaikh et al. traumatic lumbar punctures and presence of blasts in CSF together are associated with a significant reduction in event free survival of ALL children [1]. With a precise lumbar puncture, the risk of relapse of the disease later in CNS region may be essentially reduced, and the patient can have better chances for complete recovery from ALL.
Right the first time
For performing a successful lumbar puncture, let Injeq IQ-Tip® system help you. Smart Injeq IQ-Tip® system tells you when the needle tip reaches cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the subarachnoid space and you can collect a good-quality CSF sample. Audio-visual alarm indicates the presence of CSF at the needle tip, and you may stop advancing the needle further into the spinal canal. According to our yet unpublished clinical investigation of pediatric ALL patients, the use of Injeq IQ-Tip® system was associated with substantially lower incidence of traumatic lumbar punctures compared to a register-based reference data, and thus with fewer blood-tinged CSF samples. Knowing that the needle tip is in the right place, you can avoid repeated, inconvenient punctures. Less traumatic punctures may reduce unnecessary chemotherapy of the patient, and in the long term, it may reduce the risk of secondary cancers later in early adulthood. This can save costs now and in the future.
[1] Shaikh et al. The risk of traumatic lumbar punctures in children
with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. European Journal of Cancer (2014) 50, 1482–1489.
Let Injeq IQ-Tip® system help you
for diagnosing neonatal meningitis
Working in an emergency room, the pressure for fast diagnoses is high 24 hours a day, and you routinely need to make quick decisions.
When you have a patient with suspected neonatal meningitis, it is imperative to get a quick CSF sample for diagnosis. Although lumbar puncture is basically an established and simple procedure, performing it to a neonate while under pressure can be challenging. Yet, the puncture must be performed for the sake of the little patient because undiagnosed meningitis is always a life-threatening condition.
In a recent study of Flett et al. [2], only 48% of lumbar punctures performed on neonatal babies were successful. Traumatic lumbar punctures occurred very frequently, in 47% of these neonatal cases (condition is defined as >500 erythrocytes/µL). Besides pain, failed punctures cause delays in diagnosis because of poor-quality samples, and additional expenses as the patient may have to stay longer in intensive care.
To perform optimally while making a lumbar puncture, let Injeq IQ-Tip® system help you. Smart Injeq IQ-Tip® system tells you when the needle tip reaches CSF in the subarachnoid space.
[2] Flett et al. Spinal needle size and traumatic neonatal lumbar puncture: an observational study (neo-LP). European Journal of Pediatrics (2020) 179:939–945.
