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Background and Aims Awake craniotomy and deep brain stimulation (DBS) procedures require the patient to be awake and appropriate anaesthesia conditions can be provided with a scalp block. These procedures inherently generate some level of pain from local anesthetic injections during scalp block administration. We aimed to reduce the injection pain in scalp blocks using a vibration stimulus.

Methods A total of 56 patients, aged between 18 and 75 years, undergoing awake craniotomy and DBS procedures were included in the study. All patients were administered a loading dose of dexmedetomidine before a scalp block. Local anesthetic injections were applied sequentially to the identically named nerves on the right and left sides of the head. A vibration device was used during the injections on one side, whereas the injections on the other side were performed without a vibration device. Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) score and hemodynamic measurements during each injections, including heart rate and mean arterial pressure were compared between vibrated and non vibrated site.

Results The NRS scores were significantly lower on the side where vibration was used during scalp block injections (P<0.001). Additionally, both mean arterial pressure and heart rate significantly decreased on the side where vibration was used (P<0.005).

Conclusions The study showed that using topical vibration during a scalp block can decrease the pain of a local anesthetic injection and maintain hemodynamic stability.