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Are There Differences in Postoperative Pain Between Bupivacaine and Lidocaine for Carpal Tunnel Release?

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel
Interventions
Registration Number
NCT05697276
Lead Sponsor
Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires
Brief Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare the use of bupivacaine and lidocaine as local anesthetics in carpal tunnel release surgery. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Are there any differences in pain after surgery?

* Are there any differences in postoperative analgesic consumption?

Detailed Description

The Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia No Tourniquet (WALANT) technique has become popular for hand surgery in the past decade. It consists of injecting a local anesthetic and epinephrine into the surgical site. Lidocaine, a short-acting local anesthetic, is used in the classic description. Adding a long-acting local anesthetic, such as bupivacaine, has been suggested for long surgeries.

However, the use of bupivacaine in shorter-duration procedures could combine the advantages of ambulatory surgery without a tourniquet with long-acting analgesia, improving postoperative pain and reducing the consumption of analgesics.

Patients undergoing first-time open carpal tunnel release surgery will be randomized to receive bupivacaine or lidocaine. Randomization will be generated by computer using random block sizes of 2 or 4 with an allocation ratio of 1:1.

Postoperatively, patients will receive standard medical care. It consists of 50 mg of diclofenac to take when they feel pain (with a minimum interval of 8 hours). Patients will be instructed to complete a medication log for pain and analgesic consumption. A blinded investigator will contact them by phone at 24 hours and 48hs. At two weeks, they will be controlled by research staff for complications.

Eighty-two patients will be recruited, 41 per arm, assuming a 20% loss. The sample size was calculated using a 90% power and 5% significance level. The objective was to detect a minimum difference of 2 points on a numeric scale ranging from 0 to 10 with a standard deviation of 2.5 points.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
82
Inclusion Criteria
  • Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome undergoing first-time surgery
Exclusion Criteria
  • Pregnant
  • End-stage kidney disease
  • End-stage liver disease
  • Allergy to bupivacaine, lidocaine or diclofenac
  • Carpal tunnel revision surgery
  • Associated surgery (e.g., trigger finger release)
  • Unable to understand informed consent or indications
  • Patients with anxiety related to surgery who explicitly prefer to be sedated or asleep during their surgery
  • Preoperative American Society of Anaesthesiology (ASA) scale ≥3

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
BupivacaineBupivacainPatients will receive bupivacaine
LidocaineLidocainePatients will receive lidocaine
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Postoperative PainChange in pain at 24 and 48 hours or when the patients take analgesics

Visual analog scale, numerical scale from 0 to 10

Time until painUntil 48 hours from surgery

Time in hours (numeric) from surgery until the patient feel pain

Amount of analgesicat 24 and 48 hours

The number of analgesics consumed by the patient. Numeric

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Pain during anesthesia1 minute after the injection of local anesthesia

Visual analog scale, numerical scale from 0 to 10

interruption of sleep due to painat 24 hours

Did the patient wake up because of pain the first night?, Categorical, Yes or No

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Hospital italiano de Buenos Aires

🇦🇷

Buenos Aires, Other, Argentina

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