Bupivacaine vs Placebo for Unilateral Mastectomy Surgical Site Post-operative Pain Control

NCT ID: NCT03351348

Last Updated: 2025-08-26

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

PHASE3

Total Enrollment

165 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-11-16

Study Completion Date

2026-11-30

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to compare using FDA-approved bupivacaine (a numbing medicine), along with the usual medications for post-operative pain control to using the usual medications for postoperative pain control alone. The addition of bupivacaine to the surgical wound site with the usual pain medications could better manage your pain immediately after surgery and reduce the amount of opioid medications taken after surgery. This study will allow the researchers to know whether this different approach is better, the same, or worse than the usual approach.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Breast Cancer

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

A prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators
Treatment assignments can be viewed only by the hospital pharmacists who are dispensing the study drugs.

Study Groups

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Saline + usual post-operative medications

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of saline via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 hours ± 30 minutes postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

patient-reported pain scores

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Will be recorded by the nurse in the PACU as per usual practice. Patients will be given a follow-up Brief Pain Inventory (short form) 6 months and 1 year after surgery to assess their level of chronic pain. Patients may be discharged when table either on the day of surgery or post-operative day 1 (on pill diary for same-day discharge patients).

saline

Intervention Type OTHER

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of saline via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 ± 30 minutes hours postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Bupivacaine + usual post-operative medications

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of 0.5% bupivacaine via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 hours ± 30 minutes postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Bupivacaine

Intervention Type DRUG

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of 0.5% bupivacaine via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 hours ± 30 minutes postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

patient-reported pain scores

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Will be recorded by the nurse in the PACU as per usual practice. Patients will be given a follow-up Brief Pain Inventory (short form) 6 months and 1 year after surgery to assess their level of chronic pain. Patients may be discharged when table either on the day of surgery or post-operative day 1 (on pill diary for same-day discharge patients).

Interventions

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Bupivacaine

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of 0.5% bupivacaine via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 hours ± 30 minutes postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Intervention Type DRUG

patient-reported pain scores

Will be recorded by the nurse in the PACU as per usual practice. Patients will be given a follow-up Brief Pain Inventory (short form) 6 months and 1 year after surgery to assess their level of chronic pain. Patients may be discharged when table either on the day of surgery or post-operative day 1 (on pill diary for same-day discharge patients).

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

saline

The intervention in this study is the insertion of 20cc of saline via a drain into the mastectomy wound for 2 ± 30 minutes hours postoperatively in patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy without breast reconstruction +/- SLNB, +/- axillary dissection.

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Patients ≥ 18 years of age
* Patients undergoing unilateral mastectomy with or without SLNB or axillary dissection
* Patients scheduled for surgery at the JRSC or MSK Monmouth
* Previously enrolled patients \> 6 months from contralateral mastectomy

Exclusion Criteria

* Patients who are non-English speaking
* Patients having any immediate breast reconstructive procedure
* Patients are having bilateral mastectomy
* Patients who report a baseline pain score \> 3, unrelated to a breast procedure
* Patients who take long acting opioid medication use
* Patients will be excluded if they are having their mastectomy performed with tumescence
* Patients weighing \< 40kg as 20cc of bupivacaine 0.5% is greater than the maximum allowed dose
* Patients within 6 months of previous enrollment for surgery for contralateral mastectomy
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

FEMALE

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Locations

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Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (Consent and follow-up only)

Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Monmouth (All Protocol Activities)

Middletown, New Jersey, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Bergen (Consent and follow-up only)

Montvale, New Jersey, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Commack (Consent and follow-up only)

Commack, New York, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Westchester (Consent and follow-up only)

Harrison, New York, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, New York, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Memorial Sloan Kettering Nassau (Consent and follow-up only)

Uniondale, New York, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: CONTACT

848-225-6121

Leslie Sarraf, MD

Role: CONTACT

212-639-8415

Facility Contacts

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Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Leslie Sarraf, MD

Role: backup

212-639-8415

Laurie Kirstein, MD

Role: primary

848-225-6121

Related Links

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https://www.mskcc.org/

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Other Identifiers

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17-576

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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