Oral Oxycodone After Major Cardiac Surgery

March 25, 2014 updated by: Kurt Rutzler, Medical University of Vienna

Prospective, Randomized Clinical Pilot Study: Oral Opiate Targin In Treatment Of Postoperative Pain After Major Cardiac Surgery

Postoperative pain and analgesic treatment still remains a challenge in daily perioperative medicine. Skin incisions, intraoperative tissue retraction and -dissection, intravasal cannulations and drainages, sternotomy and pericardiotomy are the most important reasons for postoperative pain. Poorly controlled pain can contribute directly or indirectly to postoperative complications, such as myocardial ischemia, pulmonary dysfunction like hypoventilation, pneumonia and atelectasis, a delayed return of gastrointestinal function and decreased mobility. In addition, prolonged acute pain also results in chronic pain.

Opioids are internationally recognized as the golden standard in the treatment of acute postoperative pain. On one side, the high potency of opioids in pain relief is clearly undisputed, but on the other hand, the administration of opioids is associated with nausea, vomiting, sedation and with the development of bowel dysfunction, which encompasses symptoms including bloating, abdominal spasm, cramps and constipation. Opioid-induced constipation is a frequently reported adverse effect and sometimes requires discontinuation of therapy, which results in analgesic under-treatment, severely impairing quality of life. However, there are many different regimes for the treatment of postoperative pain using opioids. Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) using morphine is widely used, but requires trained staff and expensive equipment. Once patients are able to tolerate oral medications, the oral route is preferred postoperatively because it is more convenient, noninvasive and less expensive.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

50

Phase

  • 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 Locations

      • Vienna, Austria, 1090
        • Medical University Vienna

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

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years to 88 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age from 18 to 90 years
  • ASA physical status 1-3
  • Elective major cardiac surgery requiring sternotomy
  • Oral and written consent
  • Postoperative extubation within four hours after arrival at the ICU
  • Cognitive ability in the use of the PCA pump and the VAS

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Chronic use of opioids in the last three months
  • Chronic use of tranquilizer or pain medications
  • Hypersensitivity against opioids
  • Use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors in the last two weeks before surgery
  • Alcohol or drug abuse
  • Renal dysfunction (GFR < 30 or necessity of dialysis)
  • Liver Dysfunction defined as Child-Pugh-Score 7-15
  • Ejection fraction (EF< 40%)
  • Malabsorption syndrome
  • Neurologic or cognitive dysfunction
  • Pregnancy
  • Participation in another clinical trial
  • Severe respiratory depression with hypoxia and/or hypercapnia
  • Severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • Severe bronchial asthma
  • Non-opioid induced paralytic ileus
  • Risk of seizures

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: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Targin/OxyNorm
Patients randomized to this study arm will receive Targin as basis pain medication and additional OxyNorm (Oxycodone), if requested by the patients.
Other Names:
  • Oxycodonhydrochlorid and naloxone hydrochloride dihydrate
Other Names:
  • oral medication consisting of Oxycodonhydrochlorid
Active Comparator: PCA
Patients randomized to this group will receive a PCA pump with morphine. The basic rate is 0.3 mg/h. Patients will be allowed to administer 1 mg each five minutes after a vesting period of five minutes, if subjectively needed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
total opioid dosage in terms of so-called morphine equivalents
Time Frame: 3 days
total administrated opioid dosage during 3 days after surgery
3 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
VAS pain score
Time Frame: 3 days
Pain Scores on the Visual Analog Scale (0-100)
3 days
level of sedation
Time Frame: 3 days
Level of Sedation using the Ramsey Sedation Score.
3 days
rate of spontaneous breathing
Time Frame: 3 days
spontaneous breathing rate per minute
3 days
possible side effects
Time Frame: 3 days
open documentation of any side effects like dizziness, vomiting, allergic reaction
3 days
in hospital stay
Time Frame: 1 month
1 month
ICU stay
Time Frame: 1 month
1 month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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.

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

July 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2012

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 15, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 19, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

March 22, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 26, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 25, 2014

Last Verified

March 1, 2014

More Information

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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