• Min Zeng, Maoyao Zheng, Yue Ren, Xueke Yin, Shu Li, Yan Zhao, Dexiang Wang, Liyong Zhang, Xiudong Guan, Deling Li, Daniel I Sessler, and Yuming Peng.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, P.R. China.
• Anesthesiology. 2024 Sep 23.

BackgroundThe efficacy of superficial cervical plexus blocks for reducing persistent pain after craniotomies remains unclear. We therefore tested the primary hypothesis that preoperative ultrasound-guided superficial cervical plexus blocks reduce persistent pain 3 months after suboccipital craniotomies.MethodsWe conducted a single-center randomized and blinded parallel-group trial. Eligible patients having suboccipital craniotomies were randomly allocated to superficial cervical plexus blocks with 10 ml of 0.5% ropivacaine or a comparable amount of normal saline. Injections were into the superficial layer of prevertebral fascia. The primary outcome was the incidence of persistent pain three months after surgery.ResultsFrom Nov 2021 to August 2023, 292 qualifying patients were randomly allocated to blocks with ropivacaine (n=146) or saline (n=146). The average ± SD age of participating patients was 45±12 years and the duration of surgery was 4.2±1.3 hours. Persistent pain 3 months after surgery was reported by 48 (34%) of patients randomized to ropivacaine versus 73 (51%) in those assigned to saline (relative risk 0.66; 95% CI, 0.50 to 0.88; P = 0.003) in the per-protocol population, and by 53 (36%) of patients randomized to ropivacaine versus 77 (53%) in those assigned to saline (relative risk 0.69, 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.90; P = 0.005) in the intention-to-treat population.ConclusionSuperficial cervical plexus blocks reduce the incidence of persistent incisional pain by about a third in patients recovering from suboccipital craniotomies.Copyright © 2024 American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.

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