Anesthesia and Analgesia Methods in Pediatric External Ventricular Drainage Placement

External ventricular drainage (EVD) provides cerebrospinal fluid drainage in hydrocephalus. In adults, EVD can be placed by the neurosurgeon at the bedside. In children, it is mainly preferred to be placed in the operating room under general anesthesia. However, general anesthesia may negatively affect oxygenation during a prolonged intubation period, leading to hypoxemia. Furthermore, hypotensive effects of general anesthesia may cause ischemia due to decreased cerebral blood flow.

Additionally, on the other hand, painful stimuli caused by surgical incisions or pins may cause hemorrhagic events due to a hypertensive period. Therefore, scalp blocks and local anesthetic infiltrations are recommended to prevent such adverse events. Although general anesthesia has been a routine for many anesthesiologists for EVD placement in children, this research hypothesizes that scalp blocks (along with sedatives) can be used as an anesthesia method for EVD placement.

This study investigates the use of regional block methods (to avoid general anesthesia) in children for EVD placement.