A prospective randomized clinical study depicted that the severity and frequency of shoulder tip pain are greater in females who undergo cesarean under spinal anesthesia, compared to those who undergo cesarean under general anesthesia. Researchers sought to determine the association between anesthesia method and the occurrence of shoulder tip pain.

In total, 117 pregnant females who underwent cesarean surgery were segregated into general anesthesia and spinal anesthesia groups. Comparison of analgesic intake, demographic characteristics, and the presence and severity of shoulder tip pain in the initial 24 hours were comparatively evaluated. The occurrence of shoulder tip pain was considerably more in the spinal anesthesia group when compared to the general anesthesia group, as shown in Table 1:

While there was no prominent difference in terms of the number of people who needed opioid therapy within the initial 24 hours between patients with and without shoulder tip pain, a profound difference was noted in terms of the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Hence, shoulder tip pain was noted more frequently after spinal anesthesia when compared to females undergoing cesarean section under general anesthesia.