Peripheral nerve block of the dorsal cranium in two dogs undergoing craniotomy

Abstract

Two adult medium‐sized dogs presented with generalised tonic‐clonic seizures associated with meningiomas, one affecting the right parietal lobe and the other both frontal and olfactory lobes. Both underwent craniotomy and received multimodal anaesthetic protocols, including a peripheral nerve scalp block (frontal, zygomaticotemporal and major occipital nerves) based on a previous cadaveric study. For one dog, an intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging was performed; the bupivacaine block wore off after 280 minutes and was repeated with good effect before surgery resumed. The second dog had dexmedetomidine added to bupivacaine at the outset. The block lasted, as judged by pain assessment, at least 6 hours. We found that regional anaesthesia of the scalp was manageable to perform in a timely manner, showed good perioperative clinical effect and was likely prolonged by the addition of dexmedetomidine.