Superficial Cervical Plexus Block for Shoulder Pain After Lung Surgery

Summary

The investigators want to know whether injecting numbing medication on the side of the neck (also called superficial cervical plexus block) can prevent or reduce shoulder pain that patients commonly experience after lung surgery. The investigators will perform the injection at the end of your surgery while the subjects are still under general anesthesia and before they wake up. The investigators will use a local anesthetic (bupivacaine or Marcaine®) that is routinely used for skin infiltration of the surgical wounds. This study is randomized and single-blind. This means that subjects will be assigned by chance (like flipping a coin) to receive either an injection with active medication (bupivacaine), or no injection at all.

Timeline

Start

2013-10

Primary completion

2014-05

Completion

2014-05

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “Unable to continue enrollment due to lack of resources (research coordinator no longer available).”

Publications

• Background MacDougall P. Postthoracotomy shoulder pain: diagnosis and management. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol. 2008 Feb;21(1):12-5. doi: 10.1097/ACO.0b013e3282f2bb67.
• Background Burgess FW, Anderson DM, Colonna D, Sborov MJ, Cavanaugh DG. Ipsilateral shoulder pain following thoracic surgery. Anesthesiology. 1993 Feb;78(2):365-8. doi: 10.1097/00000542-199302000-00023. No abstract available.
• Background Pandit JJ, Dutta D, Morris JF. Spread of injectate with superficial cervical plexus block in humans: an anatomical study. Br J Anaesth. 2003 Nov;91(5):733-5. doi: 10.1093/bja/aeg250.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.