Superficial Cervical Plexus Block for Shoulder Pain After Lung Surgery

• Status: Terminated
• Trial end date: 2014-05-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The investigators want to know whether injecting numbing medication on the side of the neck (also called superficial cervical plexus block) can prevent or reduce shoulder pain that patients commonly experience after lung surgery. The investigators will perform the injection at the end of your surgery while the subjects are still under general anesthesia and before they wake up. The investigators will use a local anesthetic (bupivacaine or Marcaine®) that is routinely used for skin infiltration of the surgical wounds.

This study is randomized and single-blind. This means that subjects will be assigned by chance (like flipping a coin) to receive either an injection with active medication (bupivacaine), or no injection at all.

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: University of Washington
• Treatments: Bupivacaine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• subjects who clinically consented to elective thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) under general anesthesia and epidural analgesia

• ages between 18 and 75 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• inability to perform thoracic epidural

• violation of protocol (e.g., administration of medication that does not comply with the study protocol)

• subject has change of mind

• surgery has to be repeated

Non-inclusion Criteria:

• subject refusal

• non-English speaking

• previous chronic or neuropathic pain

• previous chronic use of opioids

• history of psychiatric disorder

• allergy to local anesthetic

• previous ipsilateral thoracotomy or VATS

• prior history of shoulder pain