AHEADAlteration in Hearing Following Accidental Dural Puncture. A Study in Parturients

Parturients who have received epidural analgesia during labour would be included in this study and these would comprise of: patients without clinical symptoms of postdural puncture headache patients with clinical symptoms of postdural puncture headache In addition, a control group of parturients who have not received an epidural analgesia would constitute the control group. All patients would have audiometry (oto-acoustic emission - OAE, and auditory steady state response - ASSR) done following diagnosis of PDPH. Subsequently, the patients would be observed for 24 h to assess whether the headache resolves spontaneously. A new audiometry would be done at this stage. Those patients with substantial evidence of PDPH at this stage would receive an epidural blood patch (EBP) and a new audiometric assessment would be made after 4 h and 24 h to assess whether any audiometric deficit has resolved or not. All patients would have a similar measurement of hearing after 3 months when it is believed that most patients have returned to normal hearing. In addition to audiometric analysis, patients would be asked to fill out a detailed PDPH questionnaire at the same time periods. All measurements would be compared with patients who have received an EDA but without PDPH and those who have not received an EDA.