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Clinical Practice Guidelines

Lumbar Puncture Needles

  • 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).