Trial of Injected Liposomal Bupivacaine vs Bupivacaine Infusion After Surgical Stabilization of Rib Fractures
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2021-01-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Rib fractures represent a common injury pattern this is highly associated with patient
morbidity and mortality, as pain control remains a challenge. Even after surgical
stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF), unsuccessful pain control can lead to morbid outcomes
such as pneumonia and opioid dependence. Multi-modal anesthesia, with the use of thoracic
epidurals and para-vertebral injections/catheters, has shown to lessen these occurrences but
are subject to a wide array of limitations. A more directed therapy with liposomal
bupivacaine has shown to provide sustained analgesia for up to 72 hours in patients who have
undergone other types of thoracic surgery, but not SSRF. The hypothesis of the current
clinical trial is that, among patients undergoing SSRF, liposomal bupivacaine delivered via
video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is an intercostal nerve block that provides comparable
analgesia to the pain catheter, as measured by pulmonary function, numeric pain scoring, and
postoperative narcotic use.