Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration With Dexamethasone Plus Ropivacaine for Postoperative Pain After Craniotomy

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.

Timeline

Start

2019-04-04

Primary completion

2019-08-15

Completion

2020-02-13

Outcome

Met primary endpoint

paper mean difference -9.3, 95% CI -13.4 to -5.1; p<0.001 PMID 33907455 ↗

Publications

• Background Rocha-Filho PA. Post-craniotomy headache: a clinical view with a focus on the persistent form. Headache. 2015 May;55(5):733-8. doi: 10.1111/head.12563. Epub 2015 Apr 22.
• Background Vallapu S, Panda NB, Samagh N, Bharti N. Efficacy of Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant to Local Anesthetic Agent in Scalp Block and Scalp Infiltration to Control Postcraniotomy Pain: A Double-Blind Randomized Trial. J Neurosci Rural Pract. 2018 Jan-Mar;9(1):73-79. doi: 10.4103/jnrp.jnrp_310_17.
• Background Tsaousi GG, Logan SW, Bilotta F. Postoperative Pain Control Following Craniotomy: A Systematic Review of Recent Clinical Literature. Pain Pract. 2017 Sep;17(7):968-981. doi: 10.1111/papr.12548. Epub 2017 Feb 23.
• Background Chowdhury T, Garg R, Sheshadri V, Venkatraghavan L, Bergese SD, Cappellani RB, Schaller B. Perioperative Factors Contributing the Post-Craniotomy Pain: A Synthesis of Concepts. Front Med (Lausanne). 2017 Mar 1;4:23. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2017.00023. eCollection 2017.
• Background Akcil EF, Dilmen OK, Vehid H, Ibisoglu LS, Tunali Y. Which one is more effective for analgesia in infratentorial craniotomy? The scalp block or local anesthetic infiltration. Clin Neurol Neurosurg. 2017 Mar;154:98-103. doi: 10.1016/j.clineuro.2017.01.018. Epub 2017 Jan 30.
• Background Dunn LK, Naik BI, Nemergut EC, Durieux ME. Post-Craniotomy Pain Management: Beyond Opioids. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2016 Oct;16(10):93. doi: 10.1007/s11910-016-0693-y.
• Background Mordhorst C, Latz B, Kerz T, Wisser G, Schmidt A, Schneider A, Jahn-Eimermacher A, Werner C, Engelhard K. Prospective assessment of postoperative pain after craniotomy. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. 2010 Jul;22(3):202-6. doi: 10.1097/ANA.0b013e3181df0600.
• Background Rahimi SY, Alleyne CH, Vernier E, Witcher MR, Vender JR. Postoperative pain management with tramadol after craniotomy: evaluation and cost analysis. J Neurosurg. 2010 Feb;112(2):268-72. doi: 10.3171/2008.9.17689.
• Background Misra S, Koshy T, Suneel PR. Oral clonidine attenuates the fall in mean arterial pressure due to scalp infiltration with epinephrine-lidocaine solution in patients undergoing craniotomy: a prospective, randomized, double-blind, and placebo controlled trial. J Neurosurg Anesthesiol. 2009 Oct;21(4):297-301. doi: 10.1097/ANA.0b013e3181ac7a31.
• Zhao C, Wang S, Pan Y, Ji N, Luo F. Pre-Emptive Incision-Site Infiltration with Ropivacaine Plus Dexamethasone for Postoperative Pain After Supratentorial Craniotomy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial. J Pain Res. 2021 Apr 19;14:1071-1082. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S300943. eCollection 2021.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.