Triamcinolone Acetonide as an Adjuvant to Pre-emptive Scalp Infiltration for Relief of Post-craniotomy Pain in Adults

Summary

Pain is common for the first 2 days after major craniotomy. A majority of patients would suffer from moderate-to-severe postoperative pain after undergoing craniotomy. Inadequate analgesia induced sympathetically mediated hypertension may lead to an increased risk for post-operative complications. Adequate pain control is essential for patients' prognosis and their postoperative life quality. Pain after craniotomy derives from the scalp and pericranial muscles. 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. Pain is common for the first 2 days after major elective intracranial surgery, and the relatively short analgesic time of scalp infiltration does not seem to meet the requirements of craniotomy. Steroid such as triamcinolone acetonide as an adjuvant to local anesthetics intra-articular injected locally ameliorated pain intensity inarthroscopic knee surgery or total knee arthroplasty. However, there has not been reported about local application of triamcinolone acetonide on scalp infiltration. Thus, the investigators suppose that pre-emptive scalp infiltration with steroid (triamcinolone acetonide) plus local anesthetic (ropivacaine) could relieve postoperative pain after craniotomy in adults.

Conditions

• Pain, Postoperative

Interventions

DRUG

The TR group

Miscible liquid of triamcinolone acetonide and ropivacaine in this study will be peri-incisional scalp infiltration with 10ml ropivacaine 1% wt/vol, 0.25ml triamcinolone acetonide (40mg/ml), plus 10 ml saline miscible liquids for participants who will undergo elective craniotomy. Local infiltration of the study solution was performed by the neurosurgeon after induction of general anesthesia and intubation, once all equipment and catheters had been placed, during stable and steady state anesthetic conditions before skin incision. The solution was infiltrated with a 22-gauge needle introduced into the skin at a 45° angle throughout the entire thickness of the scalp along the planned incision site and the head-holder sites, by the same neurosurgeon. The total volume of the study solution used for each patient was determined by the neurosurgeon mainly based on the length of the incision and recorded by the investigator.

DRUG

The R group

Miscible liquid of ropivacaine in this study will be peri-incisional scalp infiltration with 10ml ropivacaine 1% wt/vol, plus 10 ml saline miscible liquids for participants who will undergo elective craniotomy. Local infiltration of the study solution was performed by the neurosurgeon after induction of general anesthesia and intubation, once all equipment and catheters had been placed, during stable and steady state anesthetic conditions before skin incision. The solution was infiltrated with a 22-gauge needle introduced into the skin at a 45° angle throughout the entire thickness of the scalp along the planned incision site and the head-holder sites, by the same neurosurgeon. The total volume of the study solution used for each patient was determined by the neurosurgeon mainly based on the length of the incision and recorded by the investigator.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Beijing Tiantan Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Fang Luo, M.D. · Beijing Tiantan Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

64 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-10-07

Primary Completion

2023-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• China

Study Locations