Prevention of Rebound Pain After Orthopaedic Surgery With Peripheral Nerve Block (REBOUND)_part A (REBOUND)

June 19, 2026 updated by: Eric Albrecht, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

Prevention of Rebound Pain After Orthopaedic Surgery With Peripheral Nerve Block: a Single-blinded Randomised Controlled Trial

Rebound pain after peripheral nerve blocks reduces the benefits of regional anesthesia and increases opioid consumption. This rebound pain most likely results from suboptimal pain management, as patients receiving a peripheral nerve block are typically not given scheduled opioid doses. Oral Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) consists of an oral morphine prescription that allows patients to self-administer doses based on their pain score.

This study will compare patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery under general anaesthesia or sedation with a peripheral nerve block, receiving oral morphine PCA either with or without additional scheduled oral morphine doses.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study contains two parts, one for the upper limb and one for the lower limb. Each part will be published independently.

This registration concerns the upper limb cohort.

Patients from each cohort (upper limb and lower limb) will be randomized into two groups of 25 patients each, for a total enrollment plan of 50 patients per cohort. After written informed consent, patients will be allocated to one of the two groups according to a computer-generated randomization list.

In the control group, morphine will be administered exclusively on demand via oral PCA,based on pain intensity assessed using a numeric rating scale (VAS > 4). For oral PCA, one10 mg morphine tablet is placed on the patient's bedside table by the nursing staff. When the patients experience pain, they may take the tablet autonomously and subsequently inform the nurse, who then prepares and places a new tablet at bedside for the next potential pain episode. No scheduled or prophylactic opioid administration will be provided in this group. The maximal allowed dose through oral PCA will be 6 tablets (10mg each) per 24-hour period.

In the intervention group, morphine will be administered at predefined regular intervals, starting immediately in the postoperative period in addition to the availability of oral PCA morphine as mentioned above. Scheduled doses of 20mg slow-release oral morphine will be given at fixed 12 hour intervals. Patients will therefore receive regular morphine to ensure continuous baseline analgesia while still having access to an additional tablet via oral PCA in case of breakthrough pain, following the same nursing procedure as in the control group.

In both groups, standardized multimodal analgesia will be provided

The primary objective of this study is to assess and compare the highest pain score within the first 24 postoperative hours between the two groups using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The secondary objective is to assess the effect of the intervention on postoperative pain and analgesic outcomes, including morphine consumption, pain scores, need for additional nerve blocks, incidence of chronic pain, duration of analgesia, postoperative side effects, complications, and hospital length of stay.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

100

Phase

  • 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 Backup

Study Locations

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients scheduled for elective orthopaedic surgery on the upper limb
  • Patients scheduled for elective orthopaedic surgery on the lower limb.
  • Score ASA I-III; Patients aged over 18 years; Signed informed consent.
  • Surgery under general anaesthesia or under sedation

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Refusal or inability to understand the informed consent
  • Allergy to any of the following medications: ropivacaine, paracetamol, ibuprofen, ketorolac, morphine,sufentanil, ondansetron, or dexamethasone
  • Patients with long term opioid treatment
  • Bleeding diathesis
  • Neurological disorders of the operated limb
  • Known renal insufficiency (eGFR <30 mL/min)
  • Known hepatic insufficiency (Child-Pugh class B or C);
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding women;
  • Alcohol dependence syndrome;
  • Patients under spinal anaesthesia;
  • Patients undergoing amputation procedures

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: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Scheduled group
Oral morphine administered at predefined regular intervals starting immediately after surgery, with additional access to oral PCA.
Drug: Morphine provided via oral PCA + morphine administered at a scheduled regimen
morphine will be administered according to a scheduled regimen (20mg slow-release oral morphine at fixed 12-hour intervals), with additional oral PCA on demand for breakthrough pain (VAS > 4), following the same bedside tablet procedure as in the control group. The maximum allowed dose through oral PCA will be 6 tablets (10mg each) per 24-hour period.
Other Names:
  • Sevredol 10mg + slow-release oral morphine 20mg
Active Comparator: On-demand group
Oral morphine administered on demand via PCA.
Drug: Morphine provided via oral PCA
Morphine will be administered according to a scheduled regimen (20mg slow release oral morphine at fixed 12-hour intervals), with additional oral PCA on demand for breakthrough pain (VAS > 4), following the same bedside tablet procedure as in the control group. The maximum allowed dose through oral PCA will be 6 tablets (10mg each) per 24-hour period.
Other Names:
  • Sevredol 10mg

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Worst pain score during the first 24 hours after surgery
Time Frame: 24 hours postoperatively
Highest postoperative pain score during the first 24 hours after surgery, measured using a 0-10 Visual Analog Scale (VAS), where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable
24 hours postoperatively

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Minimal pain score during the first 12 hours after surgery
Time Frame: 12 hours postoperatively
Lowest postoperative pain score during the first 12 hours after surgery, measured using a 0-10 Visual Analog Scale (VAS), where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable
12 hours postoperatively
Rebound pain score measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
Time Frame: From surgery until 24 hours postoperatively
Rebound pain score calculated as the difference between the highest postoperative pain score within the first 24 hours after surgery and the lowest postoperative pain score within the first 12 hours after surgery. Pain intensity is assessed using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ranging from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable. Higher rebound pain scores indicate greater pain rebound.
From surgery until 24 hours postoperatively
Rest and dynamic pain scores
Time Frame: At 2, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 hours after surgery
Rest and dynamic pain scores, measured using a 0-10 Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable.
At 2, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, and 72 hours after surgery
Incidence of severe pain
Time Frame: From surgery through 3 months after surgery
Pain evaluated at >7/10 (VAS), measured using a 0-10 Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), where 0 indicates no pain and 10 indicates the worst pain imaginable.
From surgery through 3 months after surgery
Persistence of pain
Time Frame: During the follow-up period from discharge till 4 weeks and 3 months
Incidence of persistent pain at 4 weeks and chronic pain at 3 months
During the follow-up period from discharge till 4 weeks and 3 months
Morphine consumption in the recovery room
Time Frame: from admission until discharge from the recovery room, up to 2 hours
consumption in mg
from admission until discharge from the recovery room, up to 2 hours
PCA administered morphine consumption at day 1, 2 and 3
Time Frame: Day 1, 2 and 3 postoperatively
Consumption in mg administered by PCA
Day 1, 2 and 3 postoperatively
Total administered morphine consumption at day 1, 2, and 3
Time Frame: Day 1, 2 and 3 postoperatively
Total consumption in mg
Day 1, 2 and 3 postoperatively
Incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting
Time Frame: At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Presence of nausea or vomiting in the postoperative period
At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Incidence of pruritus
Time Frame: At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Presence of pruritus in the postoperative period
At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Incidence of urinary retention requiring bladder catheterisation
Time Frame: At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Urinary retention requiring catheterisation
At 2 hours, day 1, day 2 and day 3 postoperatively
Hospital length of stay
Time Frame: At the time of hospital discharge (typically within 5 days, according to our hospital standard practice)
Duration of hospitalization, measured as the number of days from surgery to hospital discharge. Higher values indicate longer hospital stays.
At the time of hospital discharge (typically within 5 days, according to our hospital standard practice)
Requirement for a new peripheral nerve block
Time Frame: On postoperative day 1, 2 and 3
Requirement for a new peripheral nerve block
On postoperative day 1, 2 and 3
Duration of analgesia
Time Frame: From the time the block is performed up to 36 hours after surgery
Time between block performance and the first dose of morphine
From the time the block is performed up to 36 hours after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

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)

June 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

September 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 3, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 24, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2026-00307_a

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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