Prospective Randomized Trial: Pain Management Strategy After Pectus Excavatum Repair

This will be a single institution, prospective, randomized clinical trial involving patients who undergo the minimally invasive repair of a pectus excavatum deformity with bar placement. This is intended to be a definitive study.

Power calculations based on the known length of hospitalization listed above with α = 0.05 and power of 0.8 show the need for 55 patients in each arm. The primary end point will be reached during the hospital stay; therefore, we expect a very small amount of attrition and will intend to recruit 110. One group will undergo an attempt for epidural regional analgesia (epidural) for post-operative pain control. The other groups will receive patient controlled intravenous systemic analgesia (PCA).

Both groups will have the same management algorithm. All data will be analyzed on intention-to-treat basis.