Suprazygomatic Maxillary Nerve Block in Cleft Palate Outcomes

June 22, 2026 updated by: Arun Gosain, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

Suprazygomatic Maxillary Nerve Block in Cleft Palate Outcomes: Can we Minimize Analgesic and Opioid Use?

Increased pain after cleft palate surgery is the leading cause of increased hospital length of stay, delayed oral intake, readmission, and respiratory compromise. The goal is to improve all outcomes by identifying the most effective evidenced-based method of intra-operative pain control.

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

Cleft palate repair is associated with significant perioperative pain that may require increased depth of anesthesia intraoperatively and can interfere with oral intake and accentuate breathing difficulties postoperatively, resulting in increased length of hospital stay. Optimizing pain control in the perioperative period is essential to best practice for cleft palate repair. Infiltration of the palate with local anesthetic has long been the established mechanism for pain control to minimize intraoperative anesthetic requirement and postoperative opioid use. Suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block (SMB) administered immediately prior to cleft palate repair by anesthesiologists with fellowship training in regional anesthesia is an emerging technique for local anesthetic infiltration. The latter technique is thought to provide superior pain control due to its precise and targeted action on the nerves that innervate the palate, and because it is felt that duration of action may also be prolonged due to specific infiltration around these nerves as opposed to generalized infiltration in the palatal soft tissues. The goal of our study is to evaluate outcomes following the two routes for anesthetic infiltration during cleft palate repair. If either technique is found to be more effective or of greater duration, this can have direct impact in decreasing the need for perioperative opioid use, decreasing hospital length of stay, and less potential for airway suppression from excessive use of postoperative analgesics.

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.
40

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 Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

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

9 months to 2 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • All patients undergoing primary cleft palate repair at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago during the enrollment period. The typical child at the time of cleft palate repair is age 11 to 12 months.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children with a known allergy to local anesthesia (i.e., ropivacaine or bupivacaine).
  • Children with prior surgical repair of the palate.

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: Ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block
Patients randomized to this arm will receive an ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block using 0.15 ml/kg of 0.2% ropivacaine per side, for a total of 0.3 ml/kg immediately after induction of general anesthesia and prior to incision. Participants will also receive local infiltration of the palate with an equivalent injection volume of 0.9% saline with 1:400,000 epinephrine at 2 ml/kg. Pediatric anesthesiologists with fellowship training in regional anesthesia will perform the nerve block. Local anesthetic infiltration will be performed by one of four board-certified pediatric plastic and craniofacial surgeons during repair of the palate. Patients, parents, surgeons, and the anesthesiologist will not be blinded to the specific intervention group due to the nature of the procedures involved. Nurses and the two key personnel responsible for data collection and analysis will be blinded throughout the entirety of the study.
Procedure: Ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block
The maxillary nerve, V2, is purely a sensory branch of the trigeminal nerve. V2 exits the skull through the foramen rotundum and courses through the pterygopalatine fossa, a small pyramid-shaped depression located posterior to the maxilla. As the maxillary nerve exits the pterygopalatine fossa, it divides into numerous branches that supply sensation to the posterior nasal cavity, palate, sinuses, and maxilla. It is within the pterygopalatine fossa that the maxillary nerve is targeted and anesthetized during the block. With the patient in the supine position after nasotracheal intubation, a needle is inserted perpendicularly between the upper border of the zygomatic arch and posterior orbital rim until it reaches the greater wing of the sphenoid, where the needle is then retracted by a few millimeters and redirected toward the nasolabial fold until it hits the pterygopalatine fossa.
Active Comparator: Local anesthetic infiltration of the palate
Patients randomized to this arm will receive local infiltration of the palate using 0.125% bupivacaine + 1:400,000 epinephrine at a dose of 2 ml/kg intraoperatively. Local anesthetic infiltration will be performed by one of four board-certified pediatric plastic and craniofacial surgeons during repair of the palate. Patients, parents, surgeons, and the anesthesiologist will not be blinded to the specific intervention group due to the nature of the procedures involved. Nurses and the two key personnel responsible for data collection and analysis will be blinded throughout the entirety of the study.
Procedure: Local anesthetic infiltration of the palate
Local anesthetic infiltration of the palate during cleft palate repair is universally practiced. The benefits of local anesthetic infiltration are twofold: to provide anesthesia to the terminal branches of the nasopalatine and greater palatine nerves that are in the immediate area of the injection sites and to achieve hemostasis during closure when the medication is mixed with epinephrine. To administer local anesthetic infiltration of the palate, a 25 gauge needle is inserted next to the incision into the soft tissue. The tissue is first aspirated to determine safety of injection at that site. The medication is then injected parallel to the incision on both sides.

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
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block on postoperative pain scores.
Time Frame: 48 hours after discharge
The primary outcome for this aim will be pain scores, as determined by the Face, Legs, Activity, Crying, and Consolability scale. Minimum value is 0, maximum value is 10. Higher scores indicate more pain and therefore a worse outcome.
48 hours after discharge
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block on perioperative analgesia requirements.
Time Frame: 48 hours after discharge
The primary outcome for this aim will be perioperative opioid consumption reported in morphine milligram equivalents.
48 hours after discharge

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
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block on length of stay.
Time Frame: 48 hours after discharge
A blinded researcher will perform a thorough review of patient data to determine the duration of hospital stay (hours).
48 hours after discharge
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block on time to oral intake.
Time Frame: 48 hours after discharge
A blinded researcher will perform a thorough review of patient data to determine the time to oral intake (minutes).
48 hours after discharge
Evaluation of ultrasound-guided bilateral suprazygomatic maxillary nerve block on total amount of fluids consumed.
Time Frame: 48 hours after discharge
A blinded researcher will perform a thorough review of patient data to determine the total amount of fluids consumed (ounces).
48 hours after discharge

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.
Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

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: Arun K Gosain, MD, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's hospital of Chicago

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.
March 1, 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.
June 30, 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.
June 30, 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).
March 12, 2021

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.
May 26, 2021

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.
June 2, 2021

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.
June 25, 2026

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.
June 22, 2026

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.
June 1, 2026

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.
  • 2021-4219

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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