Effectiveness of scalp nerves block in reducing the immediate postoperative pain in patients undergoing craniotomy in elective neurosurgical procedures.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the usefullness of regional scalp block in controlling the pain after craniotomy.
Material and Methods: It was a prospective randomized controlled study conducted at pakistan institute of medical sciences islamabad.Post operative pain was assessed at 01 and 06 hours using the visual analogue scale ( VAS) .Ninety six patients were enrolled in the study.Half of the patients were controls.Regional scalp nerves block of 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine was given after the general anaesthesia.All the patients were underwent craniotomy for their respective lesions.
Results:Scalp block was given randomly to forty eight patients.Post-operative pain scores at 01 and 06 hours was assessed and compared with the control group. We found that scalp blockage with 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine provided adequate postoperative pain relief.
Conclusion:We concluded that scalp block using 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine procured better postoperative analgesia juxtaposed to control group.
Key Words: craniotomy ,nerve block, ,postoperative, pain,scalp.