how does a blood patch work?

Answer 1

Hello:
To answer your question about how a blood patch works, let me just tell you that I have had three spinal surgeries, each requiring a blood patch.
What a blood patch is, is they draw blood from you and in the case of spinal/epidural problems, after they remove spinal fluid or manipulate the dura (the lining of the spinal cord), spinal fluid can leak out of the small hole. When this happens, you get a severe headache from the leaking spinal fluid.
They inject the blood into the area where the hole is and when the blood coagulates/clots, it essentially "patches" the hole kind of like patching a hole in a tire after running over a nail.
So the blood patch prevents further spinal fluid from leaking out, thus reducing your post procedure headache (those were the absolute worse headaches I ever experienced). Not even morphine helped with the pain, but once the blood patch was administered, they went away.
I hope this helped answer your question.
Best of luck!
Warren Shaffer, M.D.

Answer 2

This is usually done when you have had a spinal tap or myelogram and the insertion site in the spinal chord isn't closing. Basically they draw blood from a vein and insert it into the area of the original stick. The platelets are supposed to form a seal over the area to give it time to close up.

Answer 3

if its for a spinal then the idea is to create a clot where one failed to hold. just like it says patch with blood...