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PVB vs Ketamine/Lidocaine in Rib Fracture Patients

Early Phase 1
Recruiting
Conditions
Rib Trauma
Rib Fracture Multiple
Rib Fractures
Pain, Acute
Interventions
Combination Product: lidocaine, ketamine intravenous infusion
Drug: paravertebral block with ropivicaine
Registration Number
NCT04413799
Lead Sponsor
George Washington University
Brief Summary

Rib fractures are a common admission to the trauma service. The mainstay of treatment is pain control to improve respiratory effort in order to offset the risk of pneumonia and mechanical ventilation. In addition to standard pain control modalities, the investigator's institution utilizes paravertebral blocks as well as lidocaine and ketamine infusions for pain control. The current standard of care for pain control is to begin with acetaminophen, ibuprofen or celecoxib and opioids with the addition of paravertebral blocks as needed. In certain situations, a paravertebral block is contraindicated, and pain control is relegated to lidocaine and ketamine infusion. The use of lidocaine infusion alone and ketamine infusion alone for pain control has been studied and has been shown to be safe. However, concurrent use of these two medications to control rib fracture pain is relatively new and the efficacy compared to paravertebral block is not known. The goal of the study is to show non-inferiority of simultaneous lidocaine and ketamine infusions versus paravertebral blocks.

Detailed Description

Traumatic rib fractures are a common pathology in the trauma population. It is estimated that 10% of all trauma patients have rib fractures. The mainstay of treatment of rib fracture is pain control to allow for good pulmonary hygiene and function. When pain is not controlled, patients have a higher chance of developing pneumonia, which can lead to respiratory failure needing mechanical ventilation, eventually increasing patients' morbidity and mortality. These sequelae are most common in the elderly population. Multiple studies has shown that elderly patients with rib fractures have worse outcomes compared to younger patients with the same fracture pattern.

Pain control for acute rib fracture is achieved using multimodal analgesia to reduce the usage of opioids. Multimodal analgesia means using 2 or more drugs that act by different mechanism to provide pain control. The benefit of multimodal strategy is twofold; decrease the use of opioids and the associated side effects (eg. depressed respiratory drive, delirium, alteration of mental status) and better pain control. However, even with multimodal analgesia, pain control for acute traumatic rib fractures can be challenging. There are currently no validated management guidelines for traumatic rib fracture pain control and the approach varies by organization. At the investigator's institution, the investigators use a scheduled regimen of acetaminophen and NSAIDs, along with opioid medication as needed for pain. If this regimen is insufficient, other adjuncts such as paravertebral blocks (PVBs) and intravenous ketamine and lidocaine infusions are utilized. There are currently limited data on the combined use of ketamine and lidocaine infusions for traumatic rib fractures and it is unclear if the combination is non-inferior to PVBs in this patient population.

Continuous PVB infusion is a well-documented approach for pain control in traumatic rib fractures. But, there are occasionally prohibitive situations that contraindicate PVBs, such as vertebral fractures. Ketamine and lidocaine infusions are an attractive alternative in these situations, but the data regarding efficacy are lacking. Low dose ketamine infusion is a new addition to the pain control algorithm for trauma patients. Given that this is a novel approach, studies evaluating efficacy are sparse. There have been two randomized controlled trials utilizing low dose ketamine in trauma patients and elderly patients with rib fractures. Both were unable to show a decrease in opioid use; however, the authors were able to show a decrease in pain scores in patients with injury severity score (ISS) \>15 in both studies. Another study of ketamine infusion in traumatic rib fracture patients admitted to the ICU showed an improvement in numeric pain scores (NPS) and decreased opioids requirements but, as in the previous studies, the ISS of these patients was very high (40) in both the ketamine and non-ketamine groups making generalization to the overall trauma population difficult.

Lidocaine has also been extensively studied as a local anesthetic and more recently has become popular as an infusion for systemic pain control. A recent review article compared 16 randomized control trials of lidocaine infusion on postoperative patients and showed that patients undergoing abdominal surgery had significant decreases in postoperative opioid consumption and improved pain scores. There has been some research into lidocaine infusions in burn patients showing that it can decrease opioid usage by 25%, but the cohort was small and there was no difference in reported pain scores. These data are intriguing but the applicability to trauma patients is questionable. Unfortunately, there has been no study to assess lidocaine infusions in patients with traumatic rib fractures. The investigators believe that there is a role for simultaneous lidocaine and ketamine infusions in traumatic rib fracture patients that may provide better pain control than each one used as a single infusion. The investigators propose a prospective, randomized open label clinical trial evaluating continuous infusion of ropivacaine via PVBs against simultaneous ketamine and lidocaine infusions. The instigators hypothesize that simultaneous lidocaine and ketamine infusions is non inferior to PVBs in traumatic rib fracture patients. The results of this study could help guide pain control strategies in this patient population.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
170
Inclusion Criteria
  • age 18-80 with rib fracture requiring hospitalization
  • Failure of standard pain regimen as determined by RR > 20, TV < or equal to 50% predicted, NPS > or equal to 5, Poor cough
Exclusion Criteria
  • age less than 18 years
  • greater than 80 years
  • GCS less than or equal to 13
  • intubated at admission
  • prior or anticipated exploratory laparotomy during this admission
  • prior or expected thoracotomy during this admission
  • prior or expected emergent craniotomy during this admission
  • spinal cord injury
  • pelvic injury that has required or will require operative intervention
  • inability to accomplish activities of daily living independently
  • pregnancy
  • incarceration

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
lidocaine/ ketamine infusionlidocaine, ketamine intravenous infusionLidocaine/ ketamine infusion will be monitored and titrated as necessary by Anesthesiologist led Acute Pain Service.
paravertebral block with ropivacaineparavertebral block with ropivicaineParavertebral block catheter will be placed by Anesthesiology led Acute Pain Service. Once the catheter is inserted, a ropivacaine bolus and infused with ropivacaine, monitored and titrated as necessary by Anesthesiologist led Acute Pain Service.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Numeric Pain Score (NPS)throughout patients' hospitalization time, an average of 1 week

Numeric pain score is a scale of 1- 10 to ascertain patient's subjective pain severity. Patients will be asked their NPS daily.

Oral Morphine Equivalence (OME)throughout patients' hospitalization time, an average of 1 week

Oral morphine equivalence is used to standardized the amount of opioid patient is using regardless the type of opioid that the patient is prescribed.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
ICU Length of Stay (ICU LOS)captured after patient is discharged, an average of 1 week

The ICU length of stay will be captured after patient is discharged from the hospital.

disposition upon dischargecaptured after patient is discharged, an average of 1 week

Patient's disposition after discharge will be recorded. Disposition of patient will be recorded as home, long term acute facility, skilled nursing facility or acute rehab

incidence of pneumoniathroughout patients' hospitalization time, an average of 1 week

The diagnosis of pneumonia is captured when it is diagnosed by the primary team taking care of the patient.

ventilator daysthroughout patients' hospitalization time, an average of 1 week

We will obtain the number of days patient is on the ventilator

Hospital Length of Stay (LOS)captured after patient is discharged, an average of 1 week

The hospital length of stay will be captured after patient is discharged from the hospital.

in-hospital mortalitycaptured after patient is discharged, an average of 1 week

Patient's death will be recorded if it happen before discharge

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

The George Washington University Hospital

🇺🇸

Washington, District of Columbia, United States

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