Can freezing nerves before knee replacement cut opioid use?
NCT ID NCT05840276
First seen Jun 24, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests whether freezing specific nerves around the knee before total knee replacement surgery can reduce pain and the need for opioids afterward. One hundred adults scheduled for knee replacement will either receive the nerve-freezing treatment or a sham procedure. The main goal is to see if the freezing group uses less morphine in the first two weeks after surgery.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Cryoneurolysis (nerve freezing using a device called VISUAL-ICE)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a way to reduce pain and opioid use after knee replacement surgery, helping patients recover faster.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage trial with only 100 participants. The sham control may not fully blind patients, and nerve freezing carries risks like temporary numbness or nerve damage.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 100 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Aug 2023
- Expected to finish
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Mar 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Scheduled for unilateral, primary total knee arthroplasty * Age ≥ 18y * Written and oral understanding of Danish. Exclusion Criteria: * Contraindications against ibuprofen or paracetamol, for example previous gastric ulcer, or known renal failure (eGRF \< 60 ml/kg/1,73m2), known thrombocytopenia (\< 100 bil/l); or against treatment with morphine * History of neuropathic pain * Previous recipient of cryoneurolysis for the knee * Patients with daily use of high dose opioid (\> oral morphine 30 mg/day or oxycodone 30 mg/day or tramadol 150 mg/day) or any use of other opioids including methadone and transdermal opioids * Uncontrolled serious disease (cancer, diabetes, etc.) * Disease associated with reactions to cold, such as cryoglobulinemia, cold urticarial and Reynaud's syndrome.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Hospital of Southwest Jutland
Esbjerg, Region Syddanmark, 6700, Denmark
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