A majority of patients would suffer from moderate-to-severe postoperative pain after undergoing craniotomy. As a result, adequate pain control is essential for patients' prognosis and their postoperative life quality. 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 not unsatisfactory due to its short pain relief duration. 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. Thus, Investigators suppose that pre-emptive scalp infiltration with steroid (dexamethasone) plus local anesthetic (ropivacaine) could relieve postoperative pain after craniotomy in adults.
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AI-rewrites the medical criteria so a patient or caregiver can understand them. Always confirm with the trial site.
Cumulative sufentanil consumption within 48 hours postoperatively
Timeframe: Within 48 hours after the operation