• Br J Neurosurg · Jan 2009

    A survey of post-craniotomy analgesia in British neurosurgical centres: time for perceptions and prescribing to change?

    • D Kotak, B Cheserem, and A Solth.
    • Department of Anaesthesia, King's College Hospital, London, UK. dee.kotak@kch.nhs.uk
    • Br J Neurosurg. 2009 Jan 1;23(5):538-42.

    AbstractPatients undergoing craniotomy may experience moderate to severe pain postoperatively. An audit of analgesia of post-craniotomy patients at King's College Hospital demonstrated variable analgesic prescribing practices and suboptimal analgesia in some patients. Prior to introducing a formal post-operative analgesic regime, a survey of the adult neurosurgical units within the United Kingdom was undertaken to ascertain whether there was a general consensus regarding post-craniotomy pain management. Questions were asked as to whether there was a standardized analgesic regime/protocol; which first, second, third, and fourth-line analgesics were used; whether non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were used; what the preferred anti-emetic was; and whether pain was routinely assessed. We also undertook a survey of neurosurgeons, neuroanaesthetists, intensivists, and neurosurgery high dependency nurses within our institution to ascertain what their perceptions were of post-craniotomy pain. All 31 adult neurosurgical units were surveyed. Twenty three percent (7 units) had a standardized analgesic regime/protocol and 65% routinely assessed pain post-operatively (20 units). Seventy percent of units used codeine phosphate or dihydrocodeine (22 units) as the first line opioid the other 30% using morphine (9 units). Forty two percent (13 units) used tramadol; patient controlled analgesia was used in 3 units. Regular paracetamol was prescribed in all but five (16%) units. Fifty two percent of units (16) used NSAIDs; of those that used NSAIDs 19% (3/16) prescribed them regularly. One unit used clonidine infusions. Anti-emetics were prescribed as required in all but two units. Cyclizine was the first-line anti-emetic in 45% of the units, ondansetron in 29% and metoclopramide in 16%. There is currently no consensus on pain management after craniotomy in neurosurgical centres in the UK. Until there are sufficiently powered randomized controlled studies to address the main safety and efficacy issues progress in this area will remain slow.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…