ESP Block in MIS Lumbar Spine Surgery

October 1, 2025 updated by: Hospital for Special Surgery, New York

Erector Spinae Plane Block in Patients Undergoing Minimally Invasive Lumbar Spine Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This is a prospective, randomized controlled trial of patients undergoing minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. This study will randomize patients into one of two groups: erector spinae plane (ESP) block and no ESP block.

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.

Detailed Description

Minimally invasive (MIS) spinal surgical procedures such as MIS transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) are being increasingly performed due to reduced morbidity. However, the mainstay for perioperative analgesia after these surgeries remains to be opioid pain medications, which have a number of associated adverse effects such as respiratory depression, hyperalgesia, and opioid habituation. Recently, the erector spinae plane (ESP) block has been introduced as an opioid-sparing regional anesthetic for lumbar spinal surgery with touted benefits including opioid use reduction and improved pain control. The proposed study aims to enroll patients in a double blind randomized controlled trial to undergo MIS TLIF with an ESP block or as conventional control group. Preoperative patient demographics, comorbidities, history of opioid use, and operative details will be obtained. Comprehensive assessment of opioid utilization, postoperative pain, non-opioid pain medication use, opioid-induced complications, time to opioid cessation, time to physical therapy clearance, length of stay, as well as other related outcomes will be performed.

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.
48

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.
  • Name: Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA
  • Phone Number: 919-260-9699
  • Email: gangh@hss.edu

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10021
        • Recruiting
        • Hospital for Special Surgery
        • Contact:
          • Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA
          • Phone Number: 919-260-9699
          • Email: gangh@hss.edu
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Patawut Bovonratwet, MD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Douglas Wetmore, MD
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18-80
  • Patients scheduled for MIS TLIF (any level) with the principal investigator
  • ASA 1, 2, 3

Exclusion Criteria:

  • ASA 4 or higher
  • BMI >40
  • Chronic opioid use (daily use for > 3 months)
  • Revision surgery, any history of previous lumbar spine surgery
  • Allergy to any of the study medications
  • Non-English speaking
  • Chronic renal insufficiency or failure (creatinine >2) or severe hepatic disease (cirrhosis, failure)
  • Pregnancy
  • Any concomitant surgery

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: ESP Block
Patients assigned to the "ESP Block" arm will receive an ESP block prior to the surgery.
Procedure: Erector spinae plane (ESP) block
ESP block is an opioid-sparing regional anesthetic involving bupivacaine and dexamethasone for lumbar spinal surgery with touted benefits including opioid use reduction and improved pain control.
No Intervention: Control
Patients assigned to the "Control" group will not receive an ESP block prior to the surgery.

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
24-hour oral morphine milligram equivalents (OMEs)
Time Frame: 24 hours postoperatively
The primary outcome of the study will be cumulative opioid use in the first 24 hours postoperatively in oral morphine milligram equivalents (OMEs) (24 hour period from PACU admission to POD1).
24 hours postoperatively

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.
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York

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.
May 15, 2023

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.
July 15, 2026

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.
July 15, 2026

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).
May 4, 2023

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 4, 2023

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.
May 12, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

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.
October 6, 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.
October 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.
September 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.
  • 2021-1386

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Only the PI, study coordinators listed on the IRB protocol, and co-investigators will have access to the IPD information.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

Yes

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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