Conditions: Pain
Keywords: pain management opioid analgesic therapy safety craniotomy
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 137
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This research is being done to compare two methods of giving fentanyl, a narcotic often given to patients following brain surgery and determine if one method has more side effects than the other. Both of these methods are available in the postoperative treatment of pain. This research also is being done to determine if patients receiving narcotic pain medicine will benefit from additional monitoring of carbon dioxide levels. Since narcotic pain medicines can slow down breathing, The investigators want to see if measuring exhaled carbon dioxide levels will help identify a slower breathing rate and improve safety.

Detailed description:
See brief summary

Arms:
arm 1: A nurse can give the patient up to 3 doses of fentanyl intravenously (through a vein) each hour whenever a patient indicates that he or she is in pain. arm 2: Fentanyl will be given with a Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) pump.

Interventions: intervention 1: Fentanyl intervention 2: Fentanyl
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 25-50 mcg every 20 minutes intervention 2: 20mcg/demand dose with an 8 minute lock out

Protocol document: