Paravertebral Block to Reduce the Incidence of New Onset Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery

August 1, 2025 updated by: University of Minnesota

Paravertebral Block to Reduce the Incidence of New Onset Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

The purpose if this pilot study is to determine if a perioperative infusion of 0.2% ropivacaine via bilateral T3 paravertebral catheters can decrease the incidence of new onset atrial fibrillation following primary CABG and/or valve surgery and compare a number of secondary outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Status

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

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.

Detailed Description

Patients in the intervention group will have ultrasound guided bilateral T3 paravertebral catheters placed prior to surgery. Prior to surgery, these patients will have 5ml of 1.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine injected in each catheter. Ropivacaine 0.2% will be administered via programmed intermittent bolus of 7ml every 60 minutes through each catheter during and after surgery. Patients in the control group will receive no block and undergo surgery with routine anesthetic care guided by their cardiac anesthesiologist.

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 (Actual)

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.
32

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.
  • Phase 4

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 Locations

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55455
        • University of Minnesota

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- Participants must be undergoing one of the following elective or urgent (but not emergent) surgeries: A) Primary Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) B) Primary Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (sAVR) C) Primary Surgical Mitral Valve Replacement (sMVR) D) Combined CABG & surgical valve replacement

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of atrial fibrillation or flutter
  • Infective endocarditis
  • Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) < 30%
  • Emergency surgery
  • Redo surgery
  • Contraindication to block placement including local anesthetic allergy, bleeding diathesis (physiologic or iatrogenic)
  • Body mass index > 35kg/m2
  • Pregnancy

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

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: Experimental
Participants in this group will receive the intervention.
Drug: Ropivacaine 0.2% Injectable Solution
Patients in the intervention group will have ultrasound guided bilateral T3 paravertebral catheters placed prior to surgery. Prior to surgery, these patients will have 5ml of 1.5% lidocaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine injected in each catheter. Ropivacaine 0.2% will be administered via programmed intermittent bolus of 7ml every 60 minutes through each catheter during and after surgery.
No Intervention: Control
Participants in this group will receive no intervention.

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
Incidence of New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation (NOAF)
Time Frame: 5 days
The primary outcome for this trial is the incidence of new-onset atrial fibrillation (NOAF) in the first 5 days following cardiac surgery, defined as atrial fibrillation and/or flutter as recorded on a 12-lead ECG or rhythm strip for greater than 30 seconds in patients with no prior history of atrial fibrillation and/or flutter. Outcome is reported as the percent of participants with NOAF in each arm.
5 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Cumulative Opioid Use - Average Dosages
Time Frame: 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Outcome reported as the average opioid dosage at 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively.
24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Cumulative Opioid Use - Morphine Equivalents
Time Frame: 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Outcome reported as the cumulative opioid use in morphine milligram equivalents at 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively.
24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Time to Extubation
Time Frame: approximately 5 days
Outcome reported as the amount of time (in hours) participants remain intubated post-operatively.
approximately 5 days
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Length of Stay
Time Frame: approximately 5 days
Outcome reported as the length of time (in days) that participants are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) post-operatively.
approximately 5 days
Hospital Length of Stay
Time Frame: approximately 7 days
Outcome reported as the length of time (in days) that participants remain admitted to the hospital post-operatively.
approximately 7 days
30-Day Mortality
Time Frame: 30 days
Outcome reported as the percent of participants in each arm who expire in the 30 days following surgery.
30 days
Cumulative ICU sedation doses
Time Frame: 24 and 72 hours post-operatively
Outcome reported as the cumulative doses of sedatives (Midazolam, Fentanyl, Propofol, Dexmedetomidine, Haloperidol, Olanzapine) at 24 hours and 72 hours post-operatively.
24 and 72 hours post-operatively
Diagnosis of delirium during index hospitalization
Time Frame: approximately 7 days
Outcome reported as the percent of participants in each arm who are diagnosed with delirium during hospital admission.
approximately 7 days
Quality of Recovery 15 (QOR-15) Scores
Time Frame: 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
The Quality of Recovery 15 is a 15-item survey evaluating recovery after surgery and anaesthesia. Items are rated on a scale 0-10. Total scores are a sum of item scores and range 0-150, with higher scores representing a higher quality of recovery.
24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Average pain score
Time Frame: 24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Participants will be asked to rate their pain on a scale from 0 (no pain) to 10 (maximum pain imaginable).
24, 48, 72, 96, and 120 hours post-operatively
Block-associated complications
Time Frame: approximately 5 days
Outcome reported as the number of block-associated complications including catheter infection, vascular puncture, bleeding that results in neurologic compromise, pneumothorax.
approximately 5 days
Block performance time
Time Frame: approximately 1 hour
Outcome reported as the length of time (in minutes) for placement of catheters.
approximately 1 hour
Duration of vasopressor requirement
Time Frame: approximately 24 hours
Outcome reported as the length of time (in hours) that participants require vasopressor therapy.
approximately 24 hours

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.
University of Minnesota

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: James Flaherty, MD, University of Minnesota

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.
April 9, 2021

Primary Completion (Actual)

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.
July 8, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

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.
July 8, 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).
July 9, 2020

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.
July 10, 2020

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.
July 15, 2020

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.
August 5, 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.
August 1, 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.
August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

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.
  • ANES-2020-28859

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

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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