Lumbar Puncture Needles

Return to Lumbar Puncture Guideline

Use the following table to guide choice of length of spinal needle
Size of Needle (length) Height of child Approx age of child
2cm <50cm Pre-term neonates
3cm 50-80cm <2yo
4cm 80-120cm 2-5yo
5cm 120-150cm 5-12yo
6cm 150-180cm >12yo
Insertion distance has been correlated with height of child, and is approximately equal to 0.03 x height (cm).
Height in  centimetres
  cm

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