Erector Spinae Plane Blockade in Pediatric Scoliosis Surgery Patients

April 30, 2025 updated by: Chi-Ho Ban Tsui, Stanford University

Pediatric Scoliosis Surgery: Enhanced Recovery With Erector Spinae Plane Blockade Utilizing Surgically Placed Catheters

Providing effective analgesia after spinal fusion for idiopathic scoliosis remains a challenge with significant practice variation existing among high volume spine surgery centers. Even in the era of multimodal analgesia, opioids are the primary analgesics used for pain control after pediatric scoliosis surgery, but have multiple known adverse effects. The erector spinae plane block (ESPB) is a newly described fascial plane block performed by injecting local anesthetic between the erector spinae muscle and the transverse process. Additionally, there are case reports describing the ESPB as part of a multi-modal analgesic plan in adult degenerative spine surgery as well as adult spinal deformity surgery, demonstrating effective analgesia and no clinical motor blockade. Although it is known that the inflammatory reaction plays a crucial role in the mechanism of acute pain after major surgery, the effectiveness of the current regional approach on inflammatory response is not well studied.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Recruiting

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
50

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304
        • Recruiting
        • Lucille Packard Children's Hospital
        • Contact:
          • Ban Tsui, MD

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

No older than 18 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ASA I-III
  • Diagnosed with Idiopathic scoliosis
  • Undergoing single-stage posterior spinal instrumentation and fusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Thorascopic tethering procedure
  • Two-stage procedure
  • Abnormal developmental profile
  • Congenital/neuromuscular scoliosis
  • Requiring PICU admission
  • Known allergy to lidocaine
  • Known cardiac, renal or liver disease or dysfunction
  • Pre-existing pain complaints, i.e. on regular analgesic medications
  • Current psychiatric diagnosis, e.g. anxiety, depression, eating disorder, defined according to DSM criteria.
  • Requiring non-standard post-op pain management
  • Any history of seizures
  • Unplanned staged procedure
  • Weight < 5th centile or > 85th centile for age
  • Porphyria

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Erector Spinae Plane Blockade Treatment
Patients will receive an erector spinae plane blockade prior to their surgery as per standard regional anesthesia technique.
Procedure: Erector Spinae Plane Blockade
The ESPB is fascial plane block performed by injecting local anesthetic between the erector spinae muscle and the transverse process. Its proposed mechanism of action is via blockade of the dorsal and ventral rami of the thoracic spinal nerves and sympathetic fibers.
No Intervention: Erector Spinae Plane Blockade Control - Standard of Care
Patients will receive the standard of care for pediatric scoliosis surgery including multi-modal opioid pain management. If the patient declines to consent to enrollment into the randomized study, patients may still participate by allowing prospective data and samples collection/analysis with respect to perioperative choice.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Length of Stay (LOS)
Time Frame: Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Determine if bilateral surgical placed ESPBs will decrease length of stay in the pediatric ICU and the hospital. LOS and decrease postoperative opioid consumption.)
Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Postoperative Opioid Consumption
Time Frame: Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Determine if bilateral surgical placed ESPBs will decrease postoperative opioid consumption measured in Morphine Milligram Equivalents (MME)
Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Maximum lidocaine plasma concentration [Cmax]
Time Frame: Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Measure daily serial plasma lidocaine levels from ESPB catheters
Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Patient-Reported Pain Scores
Time Frame: Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Patients will be asked on a daily basis by the research staff to report pain scores on a scale of 1-10 (1 signifying no pain to 10 signifying the worse pain).
Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Inpatient Postoperative Mobility
Time Frame: Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days
Inpatient postoperative mobility will be tracked using activity tracker accelerometers and subsequently compared between the two groups.
Through hospital stay, an average of 5 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Stanford University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
August 28, 2020

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
October 24, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 5, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
November 6, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 1, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
April 30, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
April 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 52852

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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