Erector Spinae Block for Thoracic Surgery

NCT ID: NCT05521789

Last Updated: 2025-08-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: PHASE4
• Total Enrollment: 70 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2022-07-22
• Study Completion Date: 2026-07-21

Brief Summary

The aim of this study is to determine if erector spinae injections with bolus infusions with local anesthetic decrease postsurgical pain and opioid consumption in patients undergoing pulmonary resection surgery.

Detailed Description

The research hypothesis for the ESB Thoracic study is that erector spinae blocks with boluses of bupivacaine infusions will decrease patients' postsurgical pain, and thereby decrease the amount of narcotic pain medication used. This will be of particular use in patients who have an anticoagulation need and are not able to receive more invasive nerve blocks.To achieve appropriate exposure for pulmonary resection surgery, whether open or video-assisted, patients have surgical incision in the lateral thoracic region, including disruption to the tributaries of the spinal nerves. Due to this dissection, patients frequently experience significant pain post-operatively. Erector spinae blocks with bupivacaine or ropivacaine with bolus infusion therapy have been shown to treat this spinal nerve pain effectively in rib fractures, thoracoscopic surgeries, and breast surgeries. However, there have been no definitive studies evaluating the effectiveness of erector spinae blocks in postoperative pulmonary resection surgery patients.

It is expected that patients with erector spinae blocks (ESB) will have lower pain visual analogue scores (VAS) and lower total opioid consumption. Learning more about the effectiveness of ESB can help in providing adjunct therapy and thereby minimize post-operative opioids, use of which can add further complications in this group of patients through decreased ventilation and increased atelectasis and hypercarbia. As well, current neuraxial local anesthetic therapy involving epidurals and paravertebral blocks require an absence of anticoagulation in the patient; as a fascial plane block, erector spinae blocks can be safely placed in patients on anticoagulation.

Conditions

Pulmonary Neoplasm; Pulmonary Cancer; Thoracic Diseases; Thoracic Cancer; Thoracic Neoplasms

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Standard of Care + ESB Thoracic

Patients randomized to this group will receive an erector spinae block in addition to the standard of care treatment

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

ESB Thoracic

Intervention Type: DRUG

Erector spinae thoracic block with bupivacaine

Standard of Care

Patients randomized to this group will receive standard of care treatment and NO erector spinae block

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

ESB Thoracic

Erector spinae thoracic block with bupivacaine

Intervention Type: DRUG

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• pulmonary resection
• 18<age<90

Exclusion Criteria

• pleurodesis
• decortication
• emergent surgery
• local anesthetic allergy
• intraoperative complication (inadvertent hemorrhage or conversion to open surgery)
• bilateral pulmonary resection

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 90 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

George Washington University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

The George Washington University

Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Eduard Shaykhinurov

Role: CONTACT

eshaykhinurov@mfa.gwu.edu

2028234259

Facility Contacts

Anita Vincent

Role: primary

acucchiaro@mfa.gwu.edu

202-823-4228

Eduard Shaykhinurov

Role: backup

eshaykhinurov@mfa.gwu.edu

2028234259

Other Identifiers

NCR213913

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id