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NEUROSURGICAL ANESTHESIA

Scalp Nerve Blocks Decrease the Severity of Pain After Craniotomy

Anh Nguyen, MD^*, François Girard, MD FRCPC^*, Daniel Boudreault, MD FRCPC^*, François Fugère, MD FRCPC^*, Monique Ruel, RN^*, Robert Moumdjian, MD FRCSC, Alain Bouthilier, MD FRCSC, Jean-Luc Caron, MD FRCSC, Michel W. Bojanowski, MD FRCSC, and Dominic C. Girard, MD FRCPC^*

Departments of *Anesthesiology and Surgery, CHUM, Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal, Canada

Address correspondence and reprint requests to François Girard, MD, FRCPC, Department of Anesthesiology, CHUM, Hôpital Notre-Dame, 1560 Sherbrooke East, Montreal, Canada, H2L 4M1. Address e-mail to girardif{at}citenet.net

Up to 80% of patients report moderate to severe pain after craniotomy. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of scalp block for decreasing postoperative pain in brain surgery. Thirty patients scheduled for supratentorial craniotomy were enrolled. They were randomly divided into two groups: Ropivacaine (scalp block with 20 mL of ropivacaine 0.75%) and Saline (scalp block with 20 mL of saline 0.9%). Anesthesia was standardized. The scalp block was performed after skin closure and before awakening. Postoperative pain was assessed at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, and 48 h by using a 10-cm visual analog scale. Analgesia was provided with sub- cutaneous codeine as requested by the patient. Average visual analog scale scores were higher in the Saline group as compared with Ropivacaine (3.7 ± 2.4 vs 2.0 ± 1.6; P = 0.036). The total dose of codeine did not differ, nor did the duration of time before the first dose of codeine was required in the Ropivacaine (571 ± 765 min) versus Saline (319 ± 409 min; P = 0.17) group. In conclusion, we found that postoperative scalp block decreases the severity of pain after craniotomy and that this effect is long lasting, possibly through a preemptive mechanism.

IMPLICATIONS: Up to 80% of patients report moderate to severe pain after craniotomy. This randomized double-blinded study demonstrated that ropivacaine scalp block decreases the severity of pain after supratentorial craniotomy.

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