Dementia sufferers to get painful jab in the back to aid NHS cuts
Dementia patients to be diagnosed through a painful lumbar puncture that involves drawing fluid from their spinal cord - with the process costing about a tenth of the alternative brain scan
DEMENTIA patients will be subjected to painful cut-price tests under proposed guidelines.
They should be diagnosed using a lumbar puncture, which involves inserting a needle into the spinal cord, doctors are being advised.
The procedure costs £150, about a tenth of the alternative, a brain scan. But it can cause side-effects such as severe headaches lasting up to a fortnight, swelling and lower back pain, experts warn.
Cambridge professor John O’Brien told the Dementias 2018 conference: “It’s actually quite complicated, it’s not well tolerated, there are side-effects, it’s certainly not well delivered in memory services at the current time.”
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The proposal comes from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which suggests doctors consider the lumbar puncture first.
It would apply to about one in ten patients who could not be diagnosed by memory tests.
Nice, whose proposals are out for consultation, said there was new evidence about the benefits of the spinal test.