Scalp Block: Hemodynamic Stability and Patient Comfort In Craniotomy Patients

Making sure the heart rate and or the blood pressure \[called hemodynamic instability\] during surgery is stable, setting up for a rapid postoperative recovery, and ensuring that patients have adequate pain relief are some of the important goals of neurosurgical anesthesia. Scalp block anesthesia \[injection of a numbing agent into the area of the scalp where the incision will be\] together with general anesthesia is used to achieve these goals. There has been some research on whether or not scalp block improves patient recovery and pain management, but the studies have not be large enough to say for certain. This is true even though scalp block is used with almost every patient that is having brain surgery. The investigators propose to determine if scalp block in combination with asleep anesthesia is better than asleep anesthesia alone in patients who are having brain surgery for tumors in the cerebral area of the brain.