Continuous Thoracic Paravertebral Analgesia for Video-assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery

Summary

This study is designed to assess: * The impact of continuous thoracic paravertebral nerve blockade compared to intercostal nerve blockade on the intensity of postoperative pain following VATS in subjects having a Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) device as their primary analgesic modality. * The impact of continuous thoracic paravertebral analgesia on length of stay, opioid intake, respiratory function, incidence of side-effects and postoperative complications. The basic hypothesis of this study is that continuous thoracic paravertebral nerve blockade will provide superior postoperative analgesia following VATS when compared to intercostal nerve blockade in patients having a PCA device as their primary analgesic modality. Superior quality of analgesia should contribute to preserve pulmonary function, reduce opioid intake and related side-effects and shorten the hospital stay.

Timeline

Start

2016-03

Primary completion

2017-09-30

Completion

2017-10-01

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped: “A 30% decrease in opioid use was obeserved in the paravertebral analgesia group.”

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.