Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Feb 1990
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialEffects of oral caffeine on postdural puncture headache. A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Forty postpartum patients with postdural puncture headache (PDPH) were randomly assigned to receive oral caffeine (300 mg) or a placebo. Intensity of headache, quantitated using a visual analogue pain scale (VAS), was assessed immediately before drug administration and 4 and 24 h later. ⋯ Six patients (30%) whose PDPH was relieved by caffeine at 4 h had recurrence of symptoms the following day. Our study demonstrates that caffeine administered orally provides relief, albeit if sometimes transient, from PDPH with minimal side effects.