Posthectomy in Pediatric Elective Surgery : a Comparison of Perioperative Analgesia Using Echo-guided Penile Block and Pudendal Block With neurostimuLation Technique

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Postoperative Care; Analgesia Assessment; Posthectomy; Postoperative Analgesia

• Registration Number: NCT07191938
• Lead Sponsor: University Hospital, Caen

Brief Summary

Context : Posthectomy is a surgical procedure that concerns around 30% of the male population, mainly in pediatrics. As this procedure is mainly performed on an outpatient basis, the implementation of an enhanced rehabilitation protocol after surgery in pediatrics helps to reduce the incidence of postoperative pain, notably by providing multimodal analgesia, including locoregional anesthesia. Current recommendations from pediatric locoregional anesthesia societies favor penile block and the use of ultrasound in pediatric anesthesia to reduce anesthetic set-up time and the volume of local anesthetic, but also to increase the duration of sensory block and the success rate. However, several studies have shown the inferiority of penile block in anatomical landmarks compared with pudendal block under neurostimulation. As a result, pediatric anesthesiologists at Caen University Hospital prefer to use pudendal blocks under neurostimulation for posthectomy surgery. To date, no study has compared penile block under ultrasound with pudendal block under neurostimulation for postoperative analgesia after posthectomy surgery. On the other hand, a study of postoperative analgesia in hypospadias surgery showed a clear superiority of penile block under ultrasound over pudendal block in terms of both immediate postoperative pain and duration of postoperative analgesia. It therefore seems pertinent to compare these two techniques in posthectomy surgery.

Objective: We propose a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority study with the primary objective of comparing the efficacy of echo-guided penile block versus pudendal block in neurostimulation for posthectomy surgery.

Methods: This randomized, single-center study will include 240 patients divided into two groups. The experimental group will receive optimized medical and surgical management, with a penile block under ultrasound, while the control group will receive a pudendal block under neurostimulation. The planned duration of the study is 3 years.

Hypothesis tested: We hypothesize that ultrasound-guided penile block is non-inferior to neurostimulated pudendal block for postoperative analgesia in scheduled posthectomy surgery. The secondary objectives are to evaluate the time taken to perform the block, the volume of local anesthetic used, the need for sufentanil reinjection intraoperatively, the quantitative evaluation of analgesia using the EVENDOL score, the consumption of nalbuphine in the post anesthesia care unit, the occurrence of postoperative vomiting, and the length of stay in the post anesthesia care unit. The rate of complications related to the performance of locoregional anesthesia is also observed.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-06
• Study First Submitted: 2025-07-02
• Study Start: 2025-09-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-09-22
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-09-22
• Study First Posted: 2025-09-25
• Last Update Posted: 2025-09-25
• Primary Completion: 2028-12
• Study Completion: 2028-12-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: Male
• Target Recruitment: 240

Inclusion Criteria

• All children aged over 3 months or 60 weeks post-conceptional age scheduled for outpatient posthectomy surgery

Exclusion Criteria

• Recent airway infection.
• Contraindication to locoregional anesthesia: infection and/or loss of substance at the puncture site, congenital or acquired coagulopathy, product allergy.
• Contraindication to outpatient treatment: age < 12 weeks for healthy children or 60 weeks corrected age for premature babies, unbalanced pre-existing pathology (respiratory), ability to understand and comply with instructions (pre-operative fasting, taking painkillers at home and resumption of feeding), inability to ensure the presence of 2 adults including 1 parent on the return journey by car for children < 10 years old, easy access to care close to home.
• Emergency surgery.
• Coupled surgery (posthectomy + other surgery).
• Parents' refusal to participate in the study

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Failure of effective postoperative analgesia	Perioperative period : From anesthetic induction to discharge from the post- anesthesia care unit (12 hours maximum)	It is defined by intense postoperative pain: an EVENDOL score ≥ 4 or the use of nalbuphine (0.1 to 0.2 mg/kg discontinuous) in the post anesthesia care unit "EVENDOL" is a French scale, which is an acronym of "EValuation ENfant DOuleur" or "Child pain assessment". This scale goes from 0 to 15, 0 is the absence of pain and 15 is the maximum pain. 4/15 is the threshold from which treatment is indicated.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Locoregional anesthesia completion time	Peroperative period : From the end of skin disinfection to the removal of the locoregional anesthesia needle, assessed up to 30 minutes	In seconds, defined as the time between the end of skin disinfection and removal of the locoregional anesthesia needle.
Adverse events related to local anesthesia	Perioperative period : From the completion of local anesthesia to the discharge from post anesthesia care unit, assessed up to 6 hours	Signs of local anesthetic intoxication (neurological signs such as tinnitus, logorrhea or convulsion; tachycardia, hypotension), bleeding and hematoma at puncture site.
Volume of local anesthetic injected	Peroperative period : From skin disinfection to removal of the ALR needle, assessed up to 30 minutes	Volume of local anesthetic injected (in mL/kg/side)
Intraoperative block failure rate	Peroperative period : From the beginning to the end of the surgery, assessed up to 2 hours	Block failure is defined by the need to reinject sufentanil intraoperatively when systolic blood pressure or heart rate increases by more than 20% compared with the pre-incision heart rate, necessitating the consumption of intraoperative morphine.
Post operative vomiting	Immediate post operative period : From the arrival to the discharge from the post anesthesia care unit, assessed up to 4 hours	Post operative vomiting and cosumption of ondansetron
Quantitative assessment of postoperative pain	Immediate post operative period : From the arrival to the discharge from the post anesthesia care unit, assessed up to 4 hours	Quantitative assessment of postoperative pain using the EVENDOL score on arrival in the ICU, H+20 minutes, H+40 minutes and discharge from the post anesthesia care unit.; As a reminder, EVENDOL" is a French scale, which is an acronym of "EValuation ENfant DOuleur" or "Child pain assessment". This scale goes from 0 to 15, 0 is the absence of pain and 15 is the maximum pain. 4/15 is the threshold from which treatment is indicated.
Nalbuphine consumption	Immediate postoperative period : From the arrival to the discharge from the post anesthesia care unit, assessed up to 4 hours	Nalbuphine consumption in the post anesthesia care unit (in mg/kg)
Length of stay in post anesthesia care unit	Immediate postoperative period : From the arrival to the discharge from the post anesthesia care unit, assessed up to 4 hours	In minutes

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

CHU de Caen; 🇫🇷 Caen, Normandy, France