The Effect of Erector Spinae Plane Block (ESPB) on Pediatric Pain Management Following Posterior Spinal Fusion (PSF) Surgery (ESPB)

April 24, 2026 updated by: University of California, San Francisco

This study is being done to better understand the efficacy of an erector spinae plane block (ESPB) in pain management for children with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis or Neuromuscular Scoliosis undergoing Posterior Spinal Fusion surgery. The study team is trying to find out if receiving the ESPB leads to less pain and less need for pain medication after surgery.

The ESPB involves an injection of a local anesthetic, ropivacaine, into your child's back muscles to help block pain signals.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

42

Phase

  • Phase 3

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 Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • San Francisco, California, United States, 94158
        • Recruiting
        • University of California San Francisco
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Ishaan Swarup, MD

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) or neuromuscular scoliosis
  • Undergoing Posterior Spinal Fusion (PSF) Surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with forms of scoliosis other than AIS or NM Scoliosis.
  • Patients undergoing a spinal deformity correction surgery other than Posterior Spinal Fusion Surgery
  • Allergy or other contraindication to erector spinae plane block (ESPB) with Ropivacaine patients who are taking pre-operative opioids

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
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ESPB with Ropivacaine + standard postoperative pain protocol
Erector spinae plan block (ESPB) with Ropivacaine and standard postoperative pain protocol
Drug: Ropivacaine Hydrocloride
This drug is approved as a local anesthetic.
No Intervention: No ESPB + standard postoperative pain protocol
No erector spinae plane block (ESPB) or type of injection and standard posteropative pain protocol

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Compare Oral Morphine Equivalents and Benzodiazepine Doses used in the first 72 hours after surgery among patients who have a ESPB with standard postoperative pain protocols versus those with standard protocols alone.
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to 72 hours after surgery.
Institutional pain management protocol: patients have a hydromorphone patient-controlled analgesia pump until post-operative day 1 and as needed (PO) methadone two times a day, as well as PO oxycodone every 4 hours as needed for moderate pain and IV hydromorphone every 2 hours as needed for severe pain. PO diazepam is available every 6 hours for muscle spasms. The oral morphine equivalents and benzodiazepine doses used in the first 72 hours after surgery will be the primary method of assessing postoperative pain and muscle spasms respectively.
Change from Baseline to 72 hours after surgery.
Evaluate if combining ESPBs with standard postoperative pain protocols reduce postoperative pain scores in the first 24 hours postoperatively as compared to standard protocols alone.
Time Frame: From Baseline to 24 hours after surgery.
Pain will be measured on a numerical scale from zero to ten, with zero being no pain at all and ten being the worst pain you have ever felt. Scores will be gathered at multiple time points the day of surgery, and post-op day 1, 2 and 3. We will take the average pain score. These numerical pain scores will be the secondary method of assessing postoperative pain.
From Baseline to 24 hours after surgery.
Assess time to clearance from physical therapy among patients who have a ESPB with standard postoperative pain protocols versus those with standard protocols alone.
Time Frame: From postoperative day 1 to physical therapy clearance.
Time to clearance from physical therapy (PT) is a measure that demonstrates the amount of time required to obtain a functional level of mobilization after surgery. This mobilization is often pain limited. For neuromuscular patients with mobility limitations, aim 3 will be measured based on when patients are cleared by PT for safe discharge home. We will measure time to clearance in both groups.
From postoperative day 1 to physical therapy clearance.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ishaan Swarup, MD, University of California, San Francisco

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)

June 6, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 26, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 26, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 24, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 24, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 24, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 24-42517

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.

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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