Serratus Plane Block With Parenteral Opioid Analgesia Versus Patient Controlled Analgesia in Rib Fractures

NCT ID: NCT03919916

Last Updated: 2021-06-02

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

UNKNOWN

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

58 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-05-28

Study Completion Date

2022-06-10

Brief Summary

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In this multicentre randomised controlled trial, adult patients with isolated chest trauma and two or more unilateral rib fractures will be randomised to either serratus plane block and patient controlled analgesia or patient controlled analgesia alone. Our primary outcome is the static visual analogue scale score at one hour.

Detailed Description

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Rib breaks, or fractures, can cause pain that can be very difficult to manage and can result in chest infection and death. Such pain can be managed with either systemic drugs like morphine, which are given by mouth or through the veins, or local anaesthetic techniques, which can numb the painful area. Use of systemic drugs is however limited by significant side effects and traditional local anaesthetic techniques have problems of their own. Epidural analgesia, where local anaesthetic is placed near the spine, can only be done by those with a high level of technical skill and cannot be performed in patients with spine injuries, positioning difficulties and clotting problems. Complications and side effects can be common and/or serious and include failure, fall in blood pressure, and nerve and spinal cord damage. More recently, there has been interest in a new local anaesthetic technique, serratus plane block. Serratus plane block is simple to learn and can be done without any need for repositioning of the patient. It avoids some of the complications and side effects related to other local anaesthetic techniques and is more easily looked after by nursing staff on the ward. In view of this, we are aiming to recruit 44 adults with isolated chest injury and two or more rib fractures on one side. Each patient will either receive a serratus plane block in conjunction with morphine through the veins or just morphine alone. Our main aim is to assess how bad the pain is at 1 hour, but we will also compare the pain score, morphine consumption, lung function, level of sleepiness, and the frequency of low blood pressure, nausea and vomiting and slow breathing over the first 72 hours, as well as the hospital length of stay and occurrence of lung infection within 30 days.

Conditions

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Thoracic Injuries Rib Fractures Anaesthesia, Local Levobupivacaine Analgesia, Patient-Controlled Pain

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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Serratus plane block and patient controlled analgesia

Initial local anaesthetic bolus of 0.4 ml/kg of 0.25% levobupivacaine. Subsequent continuous local anaesthetic infusion of 0.125% levobupivacaine

Patient controlled analgesia programmed with morphine to deliver on demand boluses of 1 mg and limited by a lockout time of 5 minutes

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Serratus plane block

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Placement of initial local anaesthetic bolus and catheter for continuous infusion in the plane between latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior in the midaxillary line at the level of the 5th rib

Patient controlled analgesia

Intervention Type OTHER

Computerised pump device facilitating the patient self administration and titration as needed of morphine

Patient controlled analgesia only

Patient controlled analgesia programmed with morphine to deliver on demand boluses of 1 mg and limited by a lockout time of 5 minutes

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Patient controlled analgesia

Intervention Type OTHER

Computerised pump device facilitating the patient self administration and titration as needed of morphine

Interventions

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Serratus plane block

Placement of initial local anaesthetic bolus and catheter for continuous infusion in the plane between latissimus dorsi and serratus anterior in the midaxillary line at the level of the 5th rib

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Patient controlled analgesia

Computerised pump device facilitating the patient self administration and titration as needed of morphine

Intervention Type OTHER

Other Intervention Names

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Experimental Active comparator

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* 18 years of age or older
* Isolated chest trauma
* Two or more unilateral rib fractures

Exclusion Criteria

* One unilateral rib fracture
* Bilateral rib fractures
* Flail chest
* Clavicular fractures
* Polytrauma
* Sternal fracture or injury
* Thoracic spine injury
* GCS less than 15
* Acute or chronic confusional state
* Delirium or psychiatric illness
* Chronic lung disease necessitating home nebulisers and/or oxygen
* Coagulopathy, defined as a platelet count less than 100 x 109/l , PT \>15 or APTT \>38
* End stage liver disease
* Severe congestive cardiac failure
* Significant renal failure, defined as a creatinine \>150µmol/l
* Local infection at potential site of SBP insertion
* Pregnancy or breastfeeding
* History of chronic pain or opioid dependence
* Current chronic analgesic therapy, not to include paracetamol, NSAIDs and/or codeine
* Requirement for tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation
* Allergy to local anaesthetics and/or opioids
* Inability to control and self-administer opioids with PCA due to confusion, learning difficulties or poor manual dexterity
* Unable to speak and/or understand English
* Patients known to clinicians to be COVID-19 positive as determined by PCR or for whom there is a clinical suspicion that they might be COVID-19 positive will be excluded from the trial.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Damon Foster

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust

Locations

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Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

London, , United Kingdom

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United Kingdom

Central Contacts

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Robert J Pilling, MB ChB FRCA

Role: CONTACT

02033158000 ext. 58026

Damon Foster

Role: CONTACT

02033156825 ext. 58026

Facility Contacts

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Research Delivery Operations Manager

Role: primary

020 3315 6825

Robert Pilling, MB ChB FRCA

Role: backup

References

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Other Identifiers

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C&W19/007

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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