Headache and analgesic in postoperative craniotomy

ABSTRACT

Objective: To identify the most prevalent type of pain in postoperative craniotomy patients and evaluate the use of analgesic in this group of patients. Method: The case studies consisted of 55 patients undergoing craniotomy. Patients were evaluated from the first to the seventh postoperative day. Data were stored and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. The variables analyzed were gender, demographic data, assessing the presence of pain, location of pain, severity of pain, use of analgesic, professionals who recorded the pain on the patients’ charts, and presence of insomnia. Results: The results show that headache, the main pain reported by the patients, is present from the first to the seventh postoperative day. It was observed that in some cases there was no prescription of analgesics and even in the group of patients who took analgesics, these drugs were not effective for the relief of headache. The final logistic regression model revealed that insomnia ( OR = 10.6, p = < 0.001 ), the pain recorded in the patients’ charts (OR = 2.38 , p = 0.016) and use of analgesic (OR = 2.03 , p = 0.014) adequately explained the outcome. Conclusion: Headache was the chief complaint of pain after postoperative craniotomy, and its intensity varied from mild to severe. The analgesic used was not effective for the control of postoperative headache. Proper handling of post-craniotomy headache by the multidisciplinary team can contribute to early neurological recovery of patients undergoing craniotomy, and should make the post-surgical care, with a view to early recovery and the humanization of care.