Can a Pre-Surgery nerve block stop years of chest pain after heart surgery?
NCT ID NCT07818512
First seen Sep 14, 2026 · Last updated Sep 17, 2026 · Updated 3 times
Summary
Chronic pain after heart surgery through a breastbone incision affects many patients and can last for years. Researchers are testing whether an ultrasound-guided nerve block, given after anaesthesia but before the first cut, can reduce the chance of chronic pain three months later. The trial will randomly assign 174 adults having elective heart surgery to receive the block plus standard pain relief, or standard pain relief alone. The main measure is whether participants still report chest pain three months 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
- A nerve block using the local anaesthetic bupivacaine, injected around the nerves beside the breastbone before surgery
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a simple way to reduce long-term chest pain after heart surgery, using a nerve block that is already available.
- What could go wrong
- The block may not prevent chronic pain, or the benefit may be small. Nerve blocks carry small risks of bleeding, infection, or allergic reaction, and results from one hospital may not apply everywhere.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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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 174 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Aug 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Aug 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A government agency
The lead sponsor is a government body.
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 to 75 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Age between 18 and 75 years * Scheduled for elective cardiac surgery via median sternotomy * Able to understand and use the Numeric Rating Scale for pain * Willing to participate and able to provide written informed consent Exclusion Criteria: * Surgery planned by a minimally invasive or thoracoscopic approach * Refusal to participate * Known allergy to the local anaesthetics or analgesics to be used * Chronic opioid use * Coagulopathy * Infection at the planned block site * Pregnancy or lactation * Inability to communicate or to score pain reliably * Psychiatric or neurological condition preventing reliable completion of the BPI-SF and NRS assessments
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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.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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