Headache in patients undergoing general anesthesia

Objective. Postoperative headache can be one of the complications that occur after waking the patient from general anesthesia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of postoperative headaches after general anesthesia, in our conditions. Methods. Our study was designed as a comparative, open, non-randomized clinical study, carried out in a routine clinical practice. It was conducted at the departments of thoracic, abdominal, vascular, orthopedic surgery and gynecology, in the Clinical Center in Kragujevac. The study involved patients who signed the informed consent before the study and who were operated at these departments and underwent general anesthesia during the time frame from 01/03/2016 to 01/04/2016. Results. The results of this study showed that the frequency of postoperative headache after general anesthesia was 9%. Patients rated intensity of these headaches on a visual analogue scale. The mean value of this scale of the study participants was 0.33±1.3. It was found that alcohol consumption is an important factor associated with the development of postoperative headache after general anesthesia (p=0.035). Conclusion. Assessing frequency of postoperative headache after general anesthesia is significant both for patients and for doctors, because it puts the emphasis on the headache as a postoperative complication. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention at this type of headache and affect the reduction of its frequency and improve the quality of life of patients after waking up from general anesthesia.