ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Headache is a major symptom referred by patients with brain aneurysm. As other types of pain, it is often ignored by the multiprofessional team. Although important, headache evaluation in the preoperative period of brain aneurysm clamping is a challenge for the health team. This study aimed at evaluating preoperative headache of patients submitted to unrupted aneurysm clamping.
METHODS:
This is a descriptive, exploratory and quantitative study carried out between September 2014 and May 2015 in the neurosurgery sector and the intensive care unit of a medium-sized hospital. Sample was made up of 28 patients in the preoperative period of elective craniotomy to treat unrupted brain aneurysm. Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher Exact tests were used with significance level of 5%.
RESULTS:
It was observed that 78.6% of patients were females with mean age of 46.7 years. Moderate pulsing and frontal headache was the most prevalent pain. Nausea and vomiting were also present, as well as pain in the eye. Pain has worsened with physical effort and shaking the head. There has been statistically significant difference for the variables pain recurrence and pain in the eye.
CONCLUSION:
This article clarifies major items to be investigated to evaluate headache of brain aneurysm patients and its characteristics to help early diagnosis and better neurologic recovery.
Keywords:
Analgesia; Aneurysm; Headache; Pain; Pain measurement