Paravertebral nerve blocks for analgesia after cardiac surgery (v1.2)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A double blind, randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of paravertebral blocks for analgesia after cardiac surgery.
IRAS ID
109582
Contact name
Geoffrey Lockwood
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
Research summary
Pain after cardiac surgery can be severe and warrants treatment, not only on compassionate grounds but because pain in the chest makes it difficult to breathe. Traditional analgesic therapy with morphine can work very well but it is often associated with excessive sedation, constipation, nausea and vomiting. Furthermore it can be difficult to control the balance between the improved breathing produced by pain relief and impaired breathing because of morphine's inherent depression of ventilation. The proposed trial will examine the effectiveness of local anaesthesia of the chest wall using bilateral paravertebral blockade for post-operative analgesia.
REC name
London - Dulwich Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/0864
Date of REC Opinion
8 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion