Pupil check could slash opioid use in heart surgery
NCT ID NCT03864016
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tested whether monitoring the pupil's reaction to light (pupillometry) can help doctors give less opioid pain medicine during heart surgery. Fifty adults having coronary artery bypass surgery took part. The goal was to see if using pupillometry to guide pain medicine doses leads to using less sufentanil (a strong opioid) while still keeping patients comfortable and stable.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- pupillometry (pupil dilation reflex monitoring)
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this approach could help doctors use less opioid pain medicine during heart surgery, reducing side effects and improving recovery.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, single-center study with only 50 participants. The results may not apply to all heart surgeries or patients, and the technique may not work as well in routine practice.
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
-
50 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
-
Mar 2019
- Finished
-
Oct 2019
- Lead sponsor
-
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
-
18 years and older
- Sex
-
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: * Person who has given written consent * Adult patient * Patient undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery with CEC, with or without valve surgery, by sternotomy. * ASA \<4. Exclusion Criteria: * Person not affiliated to the national health insurance system * Person subject to legal protection (curatorship, guardianship) * Person who has been deemed mentally incompetent * Pregnant, parturient or breastfeeding woman * Adult unable or unwilling to provide consent * Patient with preoperative cognitive dysfunction (MMS \<13) (APPENDIX 6), * Patient with morphine intolerance, * Patient on long-term opioid treatment, * Emergency surgery, * Eye disease, corneal injury, or wearing contact lenses, a neurological disease that can influence the pupillary reflex, * Refusal to participate
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
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
-
Chu Dijon Bourgogne
Dijon, 2100, France