Gottlieb M, et al. - Researchers performed this systematic review and meta-analysis to determine if the use of ultrasound improved the rate of successful lumbar punctures (LPs) performance. Analysis of 12 studies (n = 957 total patients) comparing the success rates of ultrasound-assisted LP with landmark-based LP indicated that ultrasound-assisted LP was successful in 90.0% of patients and landmark-based LP was successful in 81.4% of patients. Furthermore, ultrasound-assisted LPs were associated with fewer traumatic LPs, shorter time to successful LP, fewer needle passes, and lower patient pain scores. Hence they recommend considering ultrasound prior to performing all LPs, especially in patients with difficult anatomy.