Pectoralis Block vs Paravertebral Nerve Blocks for Breast Surgery
Status:
Enrolling by invitation
Trial end date:
2022-03-02
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Following painful surgical procedures of the breast, postoperative analgesia is often
provided with a nerve block called a "paravertebral" block. For intense, but shorter-duration
acute pain, a single-injection of numbing medicine is used which lasts about 12 hours.
Recently, a new type of block has been reported: the "Pecs-2" block. The theoretical benefits
include ease of administration since it is closer to the skin (less deep) compared with the
paravertebral block and therefore easier to identify and target with ultrasound (therefore
increasing success rate); and, a lower risk of complications. Lastly, it might be easier to
insert a tiny tube which would allow additional numbing medicine to be injected. There are,
therefore, multiple theoretical reasons to prefer the Pecs-2 over the paravertebral nerve
block. Unfortunately, it remains unknown if the pain control provided by this new type of
block is comparable to that provided with the older block. The investigators therefore
propose to compare these two blocks with a clinical study.