Mind over matter: placebo may cut opioid use in kids after spine surgery
NCT ID NCT06365892
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study looks at whether giving children a placebo pill they know is a placebo can help reduce their need for opioid painkillers after scoliosis surgery. About 64 teenagers will either get the placebo plus standard care or standard care alone. The goal is to see if this approach lowers opioid use and improves recovery.
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
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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 64 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2024
- Expected to finish
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Dec 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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10 to 18 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: To be eligible for enrollment, patients must meet all of the following inclusion criteria: 1. Diagnosis of idiopathic spine deformity. 2. Age \>10 and \<18 years. 3. Primary procedure. 4. Guardian provides signed and dated informed consent and understand the nature of the study sufficiently to allow completion of all study assessments. 5. Patient provides assent. 6. Fusion and fusionless instrumented spine surgery. Exclusion Criteria: If any of the following exclusion criteria are met, the patient is not eligible for the study: 1. Non-idiopathic scoliosis, such as neuromuscular or syndrome. 2. Revision procedure. 3. Self-reported pregnancy or planned pregnancy within the next two months. 4. Have a history of drug, excluding nicotine or caffeine, or alcohol abuse within 2 years of entry into the study 5. Already taking opioids. 6. Abnormal physical examination. 7. Inability to speak or read English 8. Patient declines participation.
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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 places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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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.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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University of California, San Francisco
RECRUITINGSan Francisco, California, 94158, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Could adding pilates to schroth exercises boost lung and muscle function in teens with scoliosis?
- Protein clues may predict scoliosis progression in teens