Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration With Dexamethasone Plus Ropivacaine for Post-Craniotomy Pain in Children

Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration With Dexamethasone Plus Ropivacaine for Post-Craniotomy Pain in Children

At present, pediatric postoperative analgesia has not been fully understood and controlled, particularly craniotomy surgery. On the one hand, professional evaluation of postoperative pain for young children is difficult; on the other hand, the particularity of craniotomy adds (such as consciousness obstacle, sleepiness, et al) disturbance to the pain assessment in children. 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 unsatisfactory due to its short pain relief duration, steroid as adjuvant can enhance postoperative analgesia and prolong postoperative analgesia time. 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. Researchers have clarified that the addition of dexamethasone to local infiltration of analgesia could provide significant analgesic effects and significantly prolong the duration of analgesic effects without obvious complications for various types of surgeries. To date, no studies have evaluated the addition of dexamethasone to local infiltration for patients receiving craniotomy. Thus, investigators suppose that pre-emptive scalp infiltration with steroid (Dexamethasone) plus local anesthetic (ropivacaine) could relieve postoperative pain after craniotomy in children.

Inclusion Criteria:

• An elective craniotomy under general anesthesia;
• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status of I or II;
• Participates with an anticipated fully recovery within 2 hours postoperatively;
• Informed consent by parent(s) and/or legal guardian.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of allergies to any of the study drugs;
• Drugs with confirmed or suspected sedative or analgesic effects; receiving any painkiller within 24 h before surgery; children who received steroids;
• Psychiatric disorders;
• Uncontrolled epilepsy;
• Chronic headache;
• Peri-incisional infection;
• Body mass index exceeded the 99th percentile for age;
• Children who must use a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device;
• Children who cannot understand an instruction of pain scales before surgery.