Diclofenac Administered Before Skull Operations Reduces the Severity of Headache After the Intervention
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Purpose:
According to the proposal of the International Headache Society acute postcraniotomy headache
(PCH) is defined as a headache of variable intensity, being most serious at the site of
surgical intervention and developing within 7 days after craniotomy. Typically, pain resolves
within 3 months after surgery. According to the literature the incidence of acute PCH during
the postoperative period is 60% among patients undergoing elective craniotomies. No
standardized international guidelines are available on the treatment of PCH to the present
day. Treatment methods can be different based on the country and institution where they are
used, or even physicians individually can have distinct medication regime, which sometimes
happens to be habitual and lacks clinical evidences.
The Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Debrecen
has been giving 100 mg diclofenac with analgesic purpose, as part of the premedication to
neurosurgical patients for several years. It was observed that the postoperative headache
following craniotomy was milder comparing to data published in the international literature.
A pilot study was carried out with similar settings which found the that incidence of PCH was
lower and less analgesics were required without any further unwanted side-effects among
patients who received 100 mg diclofenac as part of the premedication.
Hypothesis:
100 mg preoperatively given diclofenac significantly reduces the incidence and severity of
postcraniotomy headache.