Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration With Dexamethasone Plus Ropivacaine for Postoperative Pain After Craniotomy
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2020-02-13
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
A majority of patients would suffer from moderate-to-severe postoperative pain after
undergoing craniotomy. As a result, adequate pain control is essential for patients'
prognosis and their postoperative life quality. Although opioids administration is regarded
as the first-line analgesic for post-craniotomy pain management, it may be associated with
delayed awakening, respiratory depression, hypercarbia and it may interfere with the
neurologic examination. For the avoidance of side-effects of systemic opioids, local
anesthetics administered around the incision have been performed clinically. However, some
studies revealed that the analgesic effect of local anesthetics was not unsatisfactory due to
its short pain relief duration. As is reported that postoperative pain of craniotomy is
mainly caused by skin incision and reflection of muscles, preventing the liberation of
inflammatory mediators around the incision seems to be more effective than simply blocking
nerve conduction. Thus, Investigators suppose that pre-emptive scalp infiltration with
steroid (dexamethasone) plus local anesthetic (ropivacaine) could relieve postoperative pain
after craniotomy in adults.