Propranolol therapeutic effect on post spinal anesthesia headache

ABSTRACT

Headache is a complication of spinal anesthesia, which also cause fear in scheduled patients. Headache may have a severity which may disturb patient's life. Headache also can persist from days to months. Many different measures can be used for preventing that; including small size needles, delay in ambulation, hydration and so on. This study was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effects of propranolol on post spinal anesthesia headache. This is a double blind clinical trial. In this study we selected 60 patients [from ASA class I, II] who undergone operation [gynecological and urorlogical] with spinal anesthesia and had post spinal headache. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups for treatment. The first group was treated with propranolol, 20 mg, twice a day and the second group was treated with acetaminophen, 325mg, twice a day. Pain severity was measured by Mankosky pain scale. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS software. Mean of severity of pain was 6.33 versus 4.6 in propranolol group [before and after treatment] and 6.36 versus 5.56 in acetaminophen group [before and after treatment]. These differences were statistically significant [p<0.05]. Propranolol can be used for treatment of post spinal headache in patients who has no contraindication for use of this medicine