The effect of intravenous propofol on the incidence of post-dural puncture headache following spinal anesthesia in cesarean section

Introduction: Post Dural puncture headache is still a common complication among young women undergone cesarean section, although use of small size spinal needles reduced its prevalence. Several methods have been suggested for prevention and treatment of this side effect; such as complete bed rest, hydration, non-opioid analgesics, caffeine, codeine, which none of them proved to be totally effective. The last option would be epidural blood patch, if headache persist. The aim of this study was evaluation the efficacy of intravenous propofol on post dural puncture headache incidence after cesarean section.

Methods: In a randomized clinical trial 120 patients aged 18-45 years old in American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) class I or II, who had no history of headache, analgesic consumption, substance abuse and drug addiction, candidate for elective cesarean section, were randomly assigned into intervention (propofol) and control groups. The anesthesia method for both groups was precisely the same. After spinal anesthesia in the first group 30µg/kg/min of intravenous propofol have been infused slowly. Then at 1, 6, 18, 24 hours and 2nd to 7th days after surgery, anesthesiologist asked groups for presence or absence of headache. The data analyzed with SPSS 16.0 software.

Results: Headache incidence rate in the group who receiving propofol was significantly reduced (P.V=0.001).

Conclusion: This study showed that 30µg/kg/min of intravenous propofol caused reduced the incidence of post spinal headache in young women undergone elective cesarean section.