Postoperative Analgesia and Recovery Quality in Total Thyroidectomy

April 20, 2026 updated by: İlke Dolgun, Istinye University

Association Between Postoperative Analgesic Approaches and Quality of Recovery and Swallowing Pain in Patients Undergoing Elective Total Thyroidectomy: A Prospective Observational Study

This prospective observational study evaluates the association between postoperative analgesic approaches and recovery outcomes in patients undergoing elective total thyroidectomy. Patients will be followed under routine clinical care without intervention or randomization.

The primary outcome is the Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) score at 24 hours. Secondary outcomes include swallowing pain, resting pain, opioid consumption, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and additional analgesic requirement.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

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 Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Merkez Mahallesi
      • Istanbul, Merkez Mahallesi, Turkey (Türkiye), 34250
        • Istinye University

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adults aged 18-75 years with ASA physical status I-III scheduled for elective bilateral total thyroidectomy under general anesthesia. Participants must be cognitively able to read Turkish and complete the QoR-15 questionnaire and provide written informed consent. Patients with chronic opioid use, chronic pain syndromes, psychiatric or neurological disorders, previous cervical surgery, planned extensive surgery, emergency procedures, pregnancy, or expected postoperative ICU need are excluded.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients aged 18-75 years
  • ASA physical status classification I-III
  • Patients scheduled for elective bilateral total thyroidectomy
  • Patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia
  • Individuals able to read and understand Turkish and cognitively capable of completing the QoR-15 questionnaire
  • Patients providing written informed consent to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Chronic opioid use (≥3 months of regular opioid use)
  • Presence of chronic pain syndrome
  • Psychiatric illness or cognitive impairment
  • History of neurological disease (stroke, dementia, Parkinson's disease, etc.)
  • Known allergy to local anesthetic agents
  • Previous surgical interventions in the cervical region (including revision thyroid surgery)
  • Planned extended surgery with concomitant neck dissection
  • Substernal/retrosternal goiter cases (with potential need for sternotomy or additional procedures)
  • Emergency surgical procedures
  • Patients with ASA physical status IV or higher
  • Pregnancy
  • Patients expected to require postoperative intensive care
  • Patients experiencing intraoperative complications that deviate from the standard monitoring protocol

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

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Cervical Plexus Block Group
Patients who receive bilateral intermediate cervical plexus block as part of routine clinical practice, based on the attending anesthesiologist's decision.
No Block Group
Patients who do not receive cervical plexus block and are managed with standard postoperative analgesia according to routine clinical practice.
Other: Cervical Plexus Block
Bilateral intermediate cervical plexus block may be performed as part of routine clinical practice based on the attending anesthesiologist's decision. The study is observational, and no intervention, assignment, or protocol-driven procedure is applied. Patients are managed according to standard perioperative care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of Recovery-15 (QoR-15) Total Score
Time Frame: 24 hours postoperatively
Quality of recovery will be assessed using the QoR-15 questionnaire. The total score ranges from 0 to 150, with higher scores indicating better recovery. The outcome will be compared between patients who received cervical plexus block and those who did not.
24 hours postoperatively

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Istinye 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 (Estimated)

April 10, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 10, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 10, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

April 23, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 23, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 20, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Serpil Tiroid

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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