Efficacy of Extended-Release Liposomal Bupivacaine for Post-Operative Urogynecologic Surgery

Effective post-operative pain management is a crucial component of a patient's surgical course following Urogynecologic surgery. Narcotics are the cornerstone for post-operative analgesia with a frequent re-dosing requirement, a lengthy list of side effects and adverse reaction risks5. The colorectal, orthopedic and general surgery literatures have reported on an extended-release bupivacaine liposomal injection, Exparel®, which remarkably reduces acute post-operative pain; however, this medication has not yet been reported within Urogynecology literature.

We propose a prospective, randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial with 120 subjects recruited from the WRNMMC Urogynecology Clinic to study post-operative efficacy of Exparel® for pain control in patients undergoing Urogynecology surgery involving the posterior vaginal wall. Subjects will be randomized to receive either 20mL of extended-release bupivacaine or 20mL placebo.

The primary objective of the trial will be to evaluate the cumulative post-operative vaginal pain using front side of Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale16 at days 1 and 3 post-procedure.. We hypothesize a 30% difference in post-operative pain measurements between the active medication group and placebo group.

Additional objectives of this study are to evaluate vaginal pain on post-operative day 7, total medication usage on days 1, 3 and 7 and any post-operative voiding dysfunction, comparing the study group to the control.